PREFACE. 



This bulletin is dedicated to the young people of Iowa. Every 

 boy and girl who has commenced the study of botany should have 

 & copy of it. The bulletin will not take the place of the regular 

 text-book on botany, but as soon as the student has become fa- 

 miliar enough with plants to analyze them, it will serve as a 

 check-list to those found growing in this state. 



This preliminary list of more than three thousand species in- 

 cludes only the native plants and those that have been introduced 

 from other sections of this country, or other continents, and have 

 escaped from cultivation, and become naturalized and are now a 

 part of the flora of the state. When the list is completed it will 

 contain more than five thousand species. The cultivated plants 

 will receive attention in a later issue. 



The limits of this bulletin would not permit extended notes 

 on species, or synonyms ; but the habitat of the plant ; the fre- 

 quency of its occurrence, and common name, when known, arc 

 given; but, unfortunately, many of the Thallophytes are known 

 only by the professional botanist and have no common names. 



The study of plant life is world-wide, and botanists of dif- 

 ferent languages have accepted a common standard, which is 

 still in use. We hope the day is not far distant when the De- 

 partment of Agriculture at Washington will take up the matter 

 through its experiment station botanists, in cooperation witli the 

 colleges and universities of the country, and give the American 

 people an English translation of the accepted Latin classifica- 

 tion, then the study of plants in the common schools will be 

 as simple as any daily routine in school work. However, until 

 that time arrives, we must accept the situation as it is. and fa- 

 miliarize our tongues with these Latin names as best we can, 

 until a better system is evolved for the use of the millions who 

 will speak of plants only in their mother-tongue. 



I have changed the order of arrangement of classes in the 



ij-3,b 71 



