, who merits notice for his regard to the science of botany, and the
, who merits notice for his regard
to the science of botany, and the respect and honour he
ever shewed to the lovers of it, was the son of John Warner,
a banker, who is somewhere mentioned by Addison or
Steele, as having always worn black leather garters buckled
under the knee, a custom most religiously observed by our
author, who in no other instance affected singularity. He
was born in 1711, educated at Wadham college, Oxford,
and being bred to the law, had chambers in Lincoln’s Inn,
but possessing a genteel fortune, he principally resided in
an ancient family seat with an extensive- garden belonging
to it, on Woodford Green, in Essex. Here he maintained
a botanical garden, was very successful in the cultivatioii
of rare exotics, and was not unacquainted with indigenous
plants. The herborizations of the company of apothecaries
were, once in the season, usually directed to the environs
of Woodford, where, after the researches of the day, at
the table of Mr. Warner, the products of Flora were displayed. The result of the investigations made in that
neighbourhood was printed for private distribution by Mr.
Warner, under the title “Plantae Woodfordienses; or a
catalogue of the more perfect plants growing spontaneously
about Woodford in Essex,
” Lond. 1771, 8vo. As none of
the graminaceous or cryptogamous tribes are introduced,
the list does not exceed 518 species. The order is alphabetical, by the names from Ray’s Synopsis; after which
follow the specific character at length, from Hudson’s
“Flora Anglica,
” the Linnsean class and order, and the
English name, place, and time of flowering.