ii4 Alaskan Science Conference 



The keys, descriptions, and the outline drawings assembled 

 into plates at the end of each part, constitute a book that can be 

 used readily and fully by any person with an interest in plants 

 and modest knowledge of botanical terms. This product of a 

 devoted "amateur" botanist who worked patiently and dili- 

 gently to good effect may well serve as a milestone in the trend 

 toward the general utilization of technical information ably and 

 brilliantly present in another monumental work, Eric Hulten's 

 "Flora of Alaska and Yukon" (9). Some may hold that Dr. 

 Anderson's work marks the close of a period that dealt primarily 

 with the cataloguing and "keying out" of the known species of 

 the area. I contend that it marks the beginning of an epoch 

 that could not have been exploited fully until such a work was 

 available. For, even to "professional" botanists, keys and accu- 

 rate descriptions are often useful aids. 



Please do not interpret my defense of the "key and descrip- 

 tions" type of botanical treatment as indicating a belief on my 

 part that critical works dealing with the taxonomic, phyto- 

 geographic, and ecological phases of botany are of little value. 

 Such I do not believe nor wish to imply. Such work as that 

 done by Hulten and by other phytogeographers and ecologists 

 involves meticulous scrutiny of earlier works, the detection of 

 flaws in interpretations of data, and a reorganization of much 

 of the information produced by previous workers. It also brings 

 forth new ideas and additional data essential in the ultimate 

 solution of problems involving all sorts of botanical viewpoints. 

 I wish only to emphasize that the tedious task of constructing 

 keys and writing descriptions are among the first steps toward 

 the full understanding of the flora, the vegetation, and the 

 individual species within a circumscribed area. 



The work of the phytogeographer involves many facets in the 

 study of plants. These facets were so numerous and attractive 

 in the arctic and subarctic botany of Alaska that Dr. Hulten 

 felt, I assume, impelled to avoid some of the time-consuming 

 task of writing descriptions and building keys to the genera, 

 in order that he might devote more energy to the studies cen- 

 tering around details less frequently covered in most taxonomic 



