14 The Plant World. 



surface, and during long, heavy rains this has been noted ac- 

 tually to occur. 



The possibility of a mycorrizal association was not investi- 

 gated, although in view of the recent work of Pennington and 

 others such * an association might exist; but it is not quite plain 

 why the fungi should grow in a definite ring if this were the only 

 biological factor determining the relationship. 



Virginia Polytechnic Institute. 



A NEW FLORA OF CALIFORNIA 

 By S. B. Parish. 



Thirty years has elapsed since the co-mletion of the botani- 

 cal volumes of the Geological Survey of California. The great 

 botanists of that earlier time have passed away; new men, with 

 new views, have succeeded them. The science itself has greatly 

 advanced, and taxonomy has not been left behind. Our terri- 

 tory, then but half explored, has now few recesses unvisited by 

 the keen-eyed collector, whose labors have enriched our public 

 and private herbaria. Our flora has been diligently studied in 

 the field and in the closet, and these investigations have le- 

 sulted in an extensive liteiature which is scattered in botanical 

 journals and the proceedings of learned societies, in monographs 

 and occasional papers, and in local and gen.?ral floras. Of all 

 this he who would study the flora of California must take account , 

 for up to the present day the Botany of the Survey remains the 

 only work covering the plants of the entire state. But adequate as 

 was that great pioneer work, and useful as it still remains, not only 

 has it long been out of print, and with difficulty procurable, 

 but it has been left behind by the advance of time, a destiny 

 from which all works of its kind can be saved only by frequent 

 revisions. It is true that manuals have been provided for in 

 the vicinity of our two largest cities, but these, while reliable 

 in their proper territory, contain pitfalls for the inexperienced 

 when used beyond those bounds. 



The time is, therefore fully ripe for a new flora which shall 

 gather up all this scattered knowledge, and arrange it in accord- 



* Michigan Academy of Science, 10:47, 1908. 



fA Flora of California, by Willis i^inn Jepson, Ph. D., Assistant Professor of Dendrology 

 in the University of California. Illustrated with many original figures. Cunningham, 

 Curtis & Welch, San Francisco. 1909. 



