VOL. III.] Notes oil Liliacece. 43 



species enumerated in these two lists as constituting the flora of the 

 v^ooded 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.4£. II. 



BY CARL PURDY. 



Every observing botanist recognizes the extent to which plants 

 are influenced by surroundmgs. Climate, soil, exposures and moist- 

 ure are factors which greatly effect the appearance 'of 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 luany 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 Liliacea-. I tried for years to 

 satisfy myself as to whether species were distinct or not, bv com- 

 parison of specimens and observations of the plants in their native 

 homes, but I w-as forced to the conclusion that the only way to settle 

 the matter w-as 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. 



