246 MAGUIRE 



There have been obtained during this program approximately 22,000 col- 

 lection numbers in large series collected by Maguire and Wurdack and as- 

 sociates and an additional 2500 by Tate and the Phelps expeditions. 



The objectives of these expeditions have been twofold: first, to make in- 

 ventory and floristic study in the remarkable, strongly holopatric, highly en- 

 demic flora of Guayana; and secondly, to consider this flora in the light of 

 problems of origin, dispersal, and geographic arrangement of primary floras 

 in tropical South America. 



As indicated by the contents of this paper, it is conclusively evident that 

 exploration is the precursor of and is inevitably to be associated with floristic, 

 phytogeographic, ecologic, and biosystematic investigation and of plant- 

 resource inventory and effective land utilization. Exploration historically 

 has been associated with the development of descriptive botany. It continues, 

 now, to be adjunct to the most refined plant census in the preparation of the 

 most modernly designed manual or flora. Exploration remains, therefore, an 

 essential part of biotaxonomic and floristic procedure today. It will be essen- 

 tial for a long time to come. 



