VASCULAR PLANTS OF THE YANGTZE VALLEY 



Wang, Y. C. (Wang, Yen-chieh). Observations on the vegetation of Hsuan-wu 

 Lake, Nanking. In Contrib. Biol. Lab. Sci. Soc. China. Bot. Ser. 6:39-58. 



1932. Chien, S. S. (Ch'ien, Sung-shu). The wood of Chung Shan, Nanking; Vegeta- 



tion of the rocky ridge of Chung Shan, Nanking. In Contrib. Biol. Lab. Sci. 

 Soc. China, Bot. Ser. 7:191-204; 215-228. 



1933. Sowerby, Arthur De C. The desert and the sown in China; Needed, a biologi- 



cal survey of China. In China Journ. 18:251-255; 305-306. 



1934. Cressey, G. B. China's Geographic Foundations. McGraw-Hill. 



Hu, H. H. (Hu, Hsien-hsu). Distribution of taxads and conifers in China. Proc. 



Fifth Pac. Sci. Congress, Canada, pp. 3273-3285. Bibliog. 

 Lee, S. C. (Li, Shun-ching). The ecological distribution of Chinese trees. In 



Peking Nat. Hist. Bui. 9(1): 1-6. Bibliog. 



1935. Fan, C. S. (Fan, Ch'ing-sheng). The vegetation of Chiu Hwa Shan, Anhwei. 



Coll. Agr. and For. Univ. Nanking Bui. 38 (new series), 7 pp. 3 figs. 

 Hu, H. H. (Hu, Hsien-hsu). A comparison of the ligneous flora of China and 

 eastern North America. In Bui. Chinese Bot. Soc. 1(2): 77-97. 



1936. The characteristics and affinities of Chinese flora. In I.e. 2(2): 67-84. 



1948. Teng, S. C. (Teng, Shu-ch'un). A provisional sketch of the forest geography 

 of China. In Bot. Bui. Acad. Sin. 2(2): 133-146. Map. Bibliog. 



1952. Li, H. L. (Li, Hui-lin). Floristic relationships between eastern Asia and eastern 

 North America. In Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc, new series 42(2): 371-429. 56 

 maps. Bibliog. 



II. Growth of the Manual 



The Lower Yangtze Valley is a region of populous port cities where numerous 

 schools, colleges and universities are located. For these schools a practical manual of 

 the local flora, with keys and illustrations is an item of real need. 



The first keys and enumeration of species from which this manual has developed 

 were prepared as aids in the teaching of systematic botany for students in the College 

 of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Nanking, Nanking, where the author was 

 Professor of Botany from 1921 to 1950. From the start it was intended to include 

 only species which could be satisfactorily keyed and recognized in the field. There 

 unquestionably remain in the area scores of valid species to be clarified by further 

 study. 



One of the chief early problems in this situation was the lack of any manual or 

 handbook keying and describing the vascular plants of that region. There were 

 enumerations listing many of our species, e.g. Gee and Chien, " Plants of Kiangsu " 

 and Forbes and Hemsley, " Index Florae Sinensis ", but no source was available which 

 brought together descriptions of the genera and species of our flora, and no keys had 

 been constructed dealing with these plants except those produced by monographers of 

 various technical groups, and these were widely scattered and often in sources not 

 available in our limited libraries at Nanking. 



" Gray's New Manual of Botany " together with Britton and Brown, " Illustrated 

 Flora" (for eastern North America), and Hooker, "Flora of British India" were our 

 most useful references for descriptions of genera in the local flora, and they covered 

 only a limited portion of our plants. Except for cultivated plants and introduced 

 weeds, few species description's were available to us. 



Under these circumstances we were exceedingly fortunate in having the generous 



