The opening of Preface
The flora of Africa being now comparatively well known, the author of the present work considered the time opportune to present to the public an analytical key for determining in an easy way the generic name of every phanerogamous plant growing wild, whether indigenous or naturalized, or cultivated upon a large scale within the geographical limits of Africa including the islands.
The names and limits of the genera and families adopted in this work are those accepted in ENGLER & PRANTL’S “Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien,” the most recent work containing the description of all genera of flowering plants, and its supplement “Genera Siphonogamarum” by DALLA TORRE & HARMS.
As the present work is intended for the use not only of botanists, but also of colonists and travellers in Africa, who take an interest in botany, I have used, wherever it was possible, as distinctive characters, those which are visible to the naked eye in a plant in flower, being careful, however, not to deviate too much from the natural system.