The Liverwort Flora of the British Isles, first published in 1999, was the culmination of well over 30 years' personal study of Britain's hepatic flora in the field which has enabled the author to take into account the full range of variation of each taxon.
The Introduction comprises sections on Collection and preservation, Examination of material, Measurements, Habitats and distribution, Conservation, Function and use of keys, Explanation of text, Abbreviations and symbols used in the text, Explanation of figures, Abbreviations and symbols used in the figures (also provided on plastic bookmark). The systematic section begins with a Conspectus of classification followed by the accounts of genera with keys, and of species, each copiously illustrated in meticulous detail by the author – a magnum opus in its own right. The work concludes with Glossary, Vice-counties in the British Isles and map, Bibliography and Index.
Jean Paton has long been respected by her fellow bryologists, both in the UK and overseas, for her outstanding knowledge of Britain's liverwort flora. In May 2000 she received the Jill Smythies Award from the Linnean Society of London for her illustrations in this book, and in 2002 the International Association of Bryologists awarded her the Sinske Hattori Prize for the best bryological publication of 1999-2000.
"[...] here is a book, altogether remarkable, not only for the extreme thoroughness of the descriptions of all species of liverwort known to occur in Great Britain and Ireland but also for the excellence of the illustrations [...] a landmark in the study of British liverworts"
– Dr E.V.Watson, author of British Mosses and Liverworts
"It is for amateur and professional bryologists alike a long-awaited source of information in detailed descriptions and illustrations giving the means to identify species in the group."
– Christine Rieser, The London Naturalist
"It is hardly possible to praise it too highly."
– T.L. Blockeel, Yorkshire Naturalists' Journal
"A landmark in the study of British Liverworts."
– E. V. Watson, in the Foreword