aa FLORA OF COLORADO 
oP A. Rydberg, Ph. D., published by the Agricultural Ex-_ 
_ periment Baio Fort Collins, Colorado. 
Hexte. This j is a work which marks an important period in the 
| - study of the Rocky mountain flora. While it is not a manual, 
it contains a full list of genera and species, with keys to tess 
and also a key to the orders. The localities in which the plants 
have been collected are given under each species, which in many 
| instances will serve to identify specimens. A map of Colorado 
a gazetteer and a good index are appended. It is much to be 
regretted that some characterization of species could not be 
made, but the work now comprises over four hundred pages, 
and as stated in the introduction, Dr. Rydberg did not have the 
time to prepare descriptions nor the Agricultural College avail- 
able funds to meet the expense. Most of the work was done by 
Dr. Rydberg, but he had the assistance of several specialists in 
some of the genera, notably of Dr. Theodor Holm, who charac- 
terized the groups and species of Carex. 
No other work on the plants of Colorado has been so care- 
fully and thoroughly done as this one, both as regards the num- 
ber of species and in assigning names according to priority of 
publication. At the present time it comes as near being a final 
authority on the botany of the region for which it was made as 
knowledge will permit. It presents a great contrast to all the 
books on the botany of Colorado which have preceded it. The 
first flora of Colorado was published by the Department of the 
Interior of the United States in 1874, its authors Dr. Thomas 
C. Porter and John M. Coulter. It listed 1350 species of flow- 
ering plants and ferns, under 435 genera, comprised in 85 fam- 
ilies. Do doubt the number of species was considerably in- 
creased when Coulter’s Manual of Rocky Mountain Botany was 
published in 1885, but there is no way of telling from that work 
how many were added. During the next ten years quite a num- 
ber of species were added by various students and collectors. 
