VOL. Ul.] Notes on Liliacee. 43 
species enumerated in these two lists as constituting the flora of the 
wooded foothills, 440, or 87 per cent. nearly, are plants apparently 
native in the district, and about 13 per cent. are pretty certainly in- 
troduced, though some of these are native further south. Of the 
440 native species 318, or a little over 72 per cent., belong also to 
the coast region, though only 105, or 24 per cent., occur in the inter- 
vening San Joaquin plain; while of the 122 native plants which be- 
gin to grow here, 78, or nearly 18 per cent., of the whole number 
are, in this county at least, limited to this zone. 
NOTES ON LILIACE#. II. 
BY CARL PURDY. 
Every observing botanist recognizes the extent to which plants 
are influenced by surroundings. Climate, soil, exposures and moist- 
ure are factors which greatly effect the appearance tof a plant, not 
only in a general way but also sometimes structurally. 
In no country are there greater variations in natural surroundings 
than in California, and our flowers reflect their surroundings. It is 
indeed wonderful how different a species, which can be proved to 
be the same, will appear in different places. So different indeed 
that such forms are frequently given different botanical names and 
treated as distinct species. On the other hand it is not infrequent 
that careful botanists attribute to accidental circumstances a differ- 
ence which really marks a variety or species. Between the extreme 
of considering each accidental variation a variety or species, and 
the other extreme of merging two distinct species under the idea 
that the variation is inconstant and accidental, lies a mean very dif- 
ficult to obtain, and it is not surprising that so many errors have 
been made and obtained a stronghold in botanical works. 
I suppose that no class of plants are more susceptible to the in- 
fluence of surroundings than the Liliaceee. I tried for years to 
satisfy myself as to whether species were distinct or not, by com- 
parison of specimens and observations of the plants in their native 
homes, but I was forced to the conclusion that the only way to settle 
the matter was by cultivating them side by side, thus eliminating all ~ 
variations due to soil and climate. This, rather than field work, is | 
my present line of study, and carefully followed out will be, I feel 
sure, productive of valuable scientific results. | 
