PREFATORY NOTE, 
The purpose of this manual is to bring together and make easily ac- 
cessible our scattered information concerning the flora of western Texas. 
It will be considered a mark of appreciation if all omissions or mistakes 
be reported to the writer. The present work being necessarily a com- 
pilation, many recorded facts have doubtless escaped notice, and some 
Species may have been admitted which do not fairly come within the 
limits chosen. It is intended to include all Texan plants west of the 
ninety-seventh meridian. The desirability of presenting this manual 
in parts has prevented the arrangement of the orders in a sequence 
more in accordance with our present knowledge of their affinities. N 0 
attempt has been made to give synonymy, except when necessary to a 
clear understanding of the Species under consider tion. It should be 
Stated further that the work has been prepared not merely as a con- 
venient reference book for botanists, but also as a handbook for Texan 
students. The latter purpose explains the introduction of analytical 
keys and of local names and uses, together with the simplicity of descrip- 
tion, which would not have been hecessary for the professional botanist, 
In the third part of the work it was thought best to conform as far as 
possible to the rules of nomenclature adopted by American botanists 
at the Rochester meeting of the American Association for the Advance. 
ment of Science in 1892, although doubtless not all the required 
changes have been made. In this work Dr. Elmon M. Fisher has ren- 
dered great assistance. Mr. Frederick V. Coville has prepared the 
manuscript of the Juncacee, Prof. L. H. Bailey the genus Carex, Mr. 
LL. H. Dewey the Graminew, and Prof. L. M. Underwood the Pterido- 
phyta. The metric system of measurements is followed throughout the 
work, and to those not accustomed to its use the following table, in 
addition to that given on page 5, may be helpful. 
Table for converting metric and English linear measures, 
Metric to English. English to metric, 
— — ee $e 
Millimeters) Meters to Kilometers} Inches to Feet to Miles to 
to inches. teet. to miles. millimeters. meters. | kilometers. 
| | 
1= - 03937 | 3, 28083 0. 62137 25. 4 0. 3048 1. 60935 
2= - OT874 6. 56167 1. 24274 50. 8 0. 6096 3. 21869 
38= - 11811 9. 84250 1. 86411 76.2 0.9144 4, 82804 
4— - 15748 13. 12333 2. 48548 101.6 1. 2192 6. 43739 
5 = . 19685 16. 40417 3. 10085 127.0 1.5240 8. 04674 
6 = » 23622 19, 68500 3. 72822 152.4 1. 8288 9. 65608 
i= » 27559 22. 96583 4. 34959 177.8 2.1336 11. 26543 
8 = - 31496 26. 24667 | 4. 97196 203. 2 2. 4884 12. 87478 
9= . 35433 29. 52750 5, 59233 228, 6 | 2. 7432 14. 48412 
it | 
nee se 
