Listing Greek and Latin words, roots or elements used or useable in botanical names and epithets, this book has been compiled in order to help authors to avoid mixture of Greek and Latin in new coinages and understand the meanings of Latin and Greek compound-coinages already in literature. Each list is presented in alphabetical order in Greek, Latin and English heads together with equivalents in the other two languages. Besides the main list, there is a three language supplementary list of 1620 classical plant names and a listing of commonly found numerals.

A taxonomic account of all 339 genera currently recognized in the family, illustrated with 50 fullpage line drawings. Many generic descriptions are based on the work of Dr John Hutchinson, but the classification follows that of Webster as modified by the author.