Introduction 



The Card Catalog is the Society's permanent plant record. 

 Each entry refers to a definite specimen in some herbarium, to 

 which reference may be made in case it is desired to verify the 

 determination. Since there are about 2200 species in our flora, and 

 since the average number of entries for each species is about ten 

 (a conservative estimate), the number of individual entries in the 

 card catalog is at least 20,000. 



Distribution of Plant Species on the Peninsula. It is immedi- 

 ately evident from the distribution maps of the card catalog that 

 the collecting over the Peninsula to date has been far from adequate. 

 For many common and well- distributed species the maps show a 

 lack of dots in wide areas in which the plants would probably be 

 found if sought for, but where they have been either missed or 

 ignored. Hence, all statements in the Annotated List relative to 

 frequency or range of occurrence must be regarded as tentative. 

 Much more investigation is needed in order to reach final conclu- 

 sions in regard to these matters. 



There are many species of plants which cannot survive within 

 reach of the influence of salt, either in the soil or carried by spray 

 from the sea in stormy weather. Among those species whose 

 distribution maps show definite avoidance of the coast there are 

 many that appear to be entirely absent from the two Virginia 

 counties of Accomac and Northampton. This follows naturally 

 from the fact that the extreme southern tip of the Peninsula forms 

 a narrow tongue of land between bay and ocean, hardly any point 

 of which is more than five miles from salt water. Among the 

 species in this category are: Carex crinita, C . folliculata, C. intumes- 

 cens, Peltandra virginica, Symplocarpus foetidus, Betula nigra, Ilex 

 laevigata, Chionanthus virginica, Mimulus ringens, M. alatus, 

 Utricularia inflata. Lobelia cardinalis, Sclerolepis uniflora. 



Nomenclature and Arrangement. The scientific names of 

 species in the text follow the International Rules, and are those 

 given in the seventh edition of Gray's Manual (1908), except as 

 these have been modified by publication resulting from recent criti- 

 cal study. Synonyms are put in parentheses, and follow the ac- 

 cepted names. 



For the most part, sequences of famihes and genera follow 

 Gray's Manual, although some variations from this have been 

 adopted, in accordance with more recent practice. 



Common names are given when they exist and are Ukely to be 



XXI 



