ii6 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



southern New Jersey. An effort has been made to work out as accurately as 

 possible the average seasons of bloom and fruit, but it has not been the 

 intention to include extreme or unusual dates. The very early or very late 

 records, usually represent individual plants in peculiar habitats or purely 

 aberrant cases. Unfortunately, such specimens often turn up in herbaria in 

 rather large numbers, because the average collector has a predilection to col- 

 lect specimens in aberrant bloom, and he quite frequently neglects to note the 

 fact on his label. Considerable care must be taken to eliminate such cases. 



In many plants there is considerable variability in the time of flowering as 

 the result of early or late springs ; in others there is similar variability due 

 to chmatic or temperature differences in adjacent localities, or through ele- 

 vation. While there is practically no variation of the last kind in southern 

 New Jersey, there is often quite an appreciable difference in the date of flower- 

 ing of the same species in West Jersey and on the coast, and one crossing the 

 State on the railroad can readily appreciate the difference in the general ad- 

 vancement of vegetation in these two sections. It has, therefore, sometimes 

 been necessary to average up in a rather crude way the results brought about 

 by such causes of variability. 



Flowering data as given in the manuals, when given at all, very often shows 

 a distinct difference of opinion on the part of the authors. The novice find- 

 ing the flowering season of a plant given in one work as "May-July," and in 

 another "July- September," will be confused to say the least. This is an ex- 

 treme example, it must be admitted, but it is the rule rather than the excep- 

 tion that there is a difference of some degree. 



The corollary to the above paragraph is the ideal that was set up of 

 endeavoring to avoid as much conjecture as possible and to work out the 

 seasons from carefully collected field data and from accurately dated her- 

 barium specimens. Furthermore, a lack of data has been frankly noted 

 instead of covering it up by work of the imagination in an attempt to attain 

 uniformity of treatment for each species. Data from territory not actually 

 covered by the report has also been used, but only in a secondary or auxil- 

 iary way. Where the data available has been too meagre to warrant a 

 statement a blank has been left as preferable to quoting dates from the 

 manuals. Several means have been resorted to, however, to give some idea 

 of the flowering season in such cases. Often when only one or two speci- 

 mens were available their actual flowering or fruiting condition has been 

 given with the date of collection. Occasionally an approximation is given 

 with the addition of the word "probably." 



It is to be regretted that more data and time were not obtainable for this 

 work, as only one who attempts a task of this kind can realize what an 

 enormous amount of data is necessary in order to reach satisfactory conclu- 

 sions. My own field notes embrace observations extending over nearly seven 

 years, but they prove a constant source of surprise in the absence of the very 

 data that are most desired. To obtain full and accurate seasonal data for the 

 plants of a region such as this would probably require many years of the 

 most rigidly systematized field work. 



In most works in which flowering dates are given no greater dcfiniteness 

 is attempted than the use of the months or sometimes only the seasons during 

 which the plant may be found in bloom, with occasionally the qualifying 



