PREFACE. 



The present volume of the Contributions is devoted to a flora of 

 New Mexico, by Mr. E. O. Wooton, of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, and Mr. Paul C. Standley, assistant curator, United 

 States National Herbarium. Mr. Wooton was connected with the 

 New Mexico College of Agriculture for twenty years, during which 

 time he made extensive botanical collections in nearly all the counties 

 of the State. Mr. Standley spent three years in botanical work at the 

 same institution and has since revisited the State for the purpose of 

 further studying its flora. This volume, therefore, is based very 

 largely upon the collections made by the two authors, although all 

 other available collections from New Mexico have been studied. 



Only the flowering plants and vascular cryptogams of New Mexico 

 are contained in the present work. Keys are given for the determina- 

 tion of the species as well as of the larger' groups, so that the volume 

 may be used as a field manual. At the same time the citations will 

 enable those who have access to libraries to consult readily the 

 original descriptions of the species. 



The number of species treated is approximately 3,000. Notwith- 

 standing the large amount of field work already accomplished, many 

 remote districts in New Mexico are still imperfectly known botanically, 

 so that eventually this number will doubtless be increased by several 

 hundred species. The treatise in its present form, however, will be 

 found to contain most of the plants growing spontaneously in those 

 parts of the State thus far settled or frequently visited. 



This is the fourth volume of the Contributions to be devoted to a 

 State flora, the others being the Botany of Western Texas (volume 2), 

 the Plant Life of Alabama (volume C), and the Flora of Washington 

 (volume 11). 



Frederick V. Coville, 

 Curator of the United States National Herbarium. 



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