252 HITCHCOCK! STUDY of the local flora 



done in branches of botany other than our specialties. We 

 read botanical journals; we attend the meetings of this society 

 and of the national botanical societies; we exchange ideas with 

 our botanical neighbors and visitors. In these ways we absorb 

 fragments of botanical information and in a desultory manner 

 keep in touch with the progress of botanical research. There 

 is another opportunity for broadening our outlook, one which 

 yields enjoyment as well as botanical profit, namely, the study 

 of systematic botany. 



Therefore to-night I wish to present for your consideration a 

 few remarks on the advantages of taxonomic botany as an avo- 

 cation. I shall address these remarks particularly to the 

 younger men, though I hope the older members may be cajoled 

 into giving an attentive and sympathetic ear. I hope to show, 

 first, that there is a favorable opportunity here in Washington 

 for the study of systematic or taxonomic botany and, second, 

 that such a study may be a distinct advantage to those who 

 will take the time for its pursuit. 



Few of you who are not engaged officially in systematic work 

 are likely to have the time or the inclination to undertake an 

 elaborate monograph of a difficult group of plants. We may 

 therefore dismiss this phase of the subject from consideration. 

 The field of study to which I wish particularly to call your at- 

 tention is that of the local flora. Here is an opportunity right 

 at our door, fully available during the growing season, partly 

 available even in winter. The student may grasp much or 

 little, as circumstances permit. Recently the study of the 

 local flora has received an impetus through the efforts of several 

 of you who have undertaken to study particular groups and 

 have devised keys to the genera and species of the flowering 

 plants found in the vicinity of Washington. The standard 

 manuals of the flora of the northeastern states include this 

 region. The flora itself has been studied in a more or less de- 

 sultory manner by several botanists through several decades. 

 The student therefore will find the way fairly well cleared for 

 him. It will be comparatively easy for him to become familiar 

 with the flora, at least in a general way. Except in complex 



