Current Literahire 31 



general use, sufficient botanical description and excellent illus- 

 trations, mostly from photographs. Until the recent appearance 

 of Prof. C. S. Sargent's Manual, students of CaHfornia trees 

 have had to depend mainly on Brewer and Watson's Botany of 

 California. Following this, Dr. Albert Kellogg's "Illustrations 

 of West American Oaks" and Prof. J. G. lycmmon's "West 

 American Conebearers" were excellent for the groups they 

 covered. The addition of the few trees of Washington and 

 Oregon and some of Arizona, which do not occur in California, 

 extends the usefulness of the book over the whole Pacific Coast. 

 There are 169 species and varieties, 57 of which are illustrated, 

 a most commendable and essential feature of the book, whether 

 it be used by laymen or experts. Besides a comprehensive bo- 

 tanical key to the families, there are two simple keys, by fruit 

 and by foliage, to the genera. Sargents' nomenclature is used, 

 not however consistently, vide Querais densiflora instead of 

 Pasania densiflora. The author has, we think, wisely excluded 

 from her concise, clear, and helpful work, reference to mooted 

 points in nomenclature, in which there is opportunit}^ for discus- 

 sion. We are glad to see even the pre-occupied name Sequoia 

 gigantea still used for California's greatest tree wonder, the 

 Sierra Big-Tree, in place of the proposed ^S". Wellingtonia — which 

 most Calif ornians resent. The range is probably also from the 

 Manual. We note only one antiquated notion in the preface 

 which requires a tree to be not less than 15 feet high. Such 

 species as Garrya eliptica, Cercis occidentalis , three manzanitas 

 (^Arctostaphylos) and several species of Ceajiothzis. which have 

 hitherto been considered as shrubs, undoubtedly assume tree- 

 from. There are, however, in the text also mere shrubs des- 

 cribed, like Castanopsis Chrysophylla, so that probably this dis- 

 tinction has not materially abridged the number. One new 

 species of oak — we hope it will stand the test of time for the sake 

 of the one after whom it is named — with a very attenuated acorn, 

 is named after one of the prominent early patrons of forestry in 

 California Querctis Alvordiana. 



Every forester on the Pacific Coast needs just such a book and 

 we predict, that the limited edition of 500 will soon be exhausted. 



S. F. 



