2- CONTRIBUTIONS TO WESTERN BOTANY NO. IS 



JEPSON'S FLORA OF CALIFORNIA 



This is coming out in two simultaneous forms. A- full flora, sup- 

 posed to be. complete in all things, and an abridged school flora; in one 



volume. 



Jepson seems to be the best equipped for this work of ^ny^ of the 

 younger botanists, though not to be compared in ability with the venerable 

 Parish nor with the Brandegees, who have just died. Jepson seems to 

 havd in the main done his task well. There are many minor things to 

 criticise, such as incomplete symphony, omission of many proposed species, 

 poor identification and an inclination to neglect the work of contempor- 

 aries, but in the main his work deserv^es and will get the proper recogni- 

 tion. His ideas on the nomenclature are betwixt and between, a defect. 

 He. fails to print the names of species as they were originally proposed. 

 Those names ending in one or two i-s he generally prints with two irre- 

 spi'ctive of their etymological significance, apparently assuming that his 

 iLaders know as little or less Latin than he, which is very little. He also 

 drops the capitalization of proper names which is a serious defect. If a 

 itader has not sense enough to study Latin' I fail to see why he ever 

 b^co;nes a botanist. I don't think it fair to real botanists to assume that 

 all of them are Latinistical idiots. That there are many who rightly 

 btlonc^ in the class of half-wits who call themselves totanists does not 



peed . proof, but all botanists do not belong in the class of the feeble 

 i:undcd. Another defect of Jepson's is lack of knowledge of the material 

 In the great herbaria of this country, and, this leads him to make mul- 

 titudinous mistakes in ecology and plant distribution. An example of his 

 L.-^lcct of proper study of genera is shown in Draba, His Draba nivalin 

 var. Calif omica is not that species. He does not mention Draba subses- 

 .nlis, though the type locality is Californian. He dees not mention Draba 

 incana which grov/s in California. He fails to nam.e the chief character 

 of Draba comigata which is the conspicuously exserted stamens, which 

 thaTacter does not occur in any other species of Draba. There are several 

 species of Draba in the Sierras which he does not mention. Time prc- 

 VK:nts my going through his work and picking up the lapses, but they are 

 many. Cn the whole his Flora is the best ever gotten out except Watson's 

 moruimental work. In Jep-fcn's Manual P. 444 he gives Draba Lemmoni 

 as D. Lemmonii with the accent on the "o.'' This plant w^as described as 

 Dhoba Lemmoni by Watson in his Flora of California. In the Syn. FL 

 p. lOS Robinson puts the accent in the wrong place by accenting the "o." 

 Eemmon's name was not pronounced* with the "o" long but short, and 

 therefore the accent should be on the *'e." That Jepson is simply in 



Draba 



o 



arity in the use of" two pr 



