2 PREFACE 



Teachers who are in doubt about any plants are earnestly 

 requested to send specimens to the Academy of Sciences, San 

 Francisco, where they will be compared with herbarium speci- 

 mens and identified. The specimens should have both flower 

 and fruit when possible, and in the case of herbs the entire 

 plant should be sent, root and all. % 



It requires quite a library of botanical books to identify 

 Pacific Coast species, since there is no book published that 

 contains even all the known species, and there are many 

 species still undiscovered. It is neither possible nor desirable 

 to attempt to include all in a school flora. The chief books 

 needed for a more complete study are the two large and 

 expensive volumes of the State Geological Survey ; the fol- 

 lowing botanical works of Prof. E. L. Greene : Pittonia, Flora 

 Franciscana, and The Botany of the Bay Region ; Western 

 Cone-bearers, by J. G. Lemmon ; and, for Composites and 

 Gamopetalce, Gray's Synoptical Flora. 



The plan of arrangement in preparing this Flora has been 

 that of Professor Bergen's Key and Flora to the Spring- 

 blooming Plants of the Northern and Middle States, which 

 replaces this in the Eastern edition of his book. It seemed 

 that a plan which he had tried and found successful was 

 better to adopt than one that was new and untried. When- 

 ever possible, his descriptions have been used, the aim 

 throughout having been to follow as he led. 



The botany of the Geological Survey, Professor Greene's 

 botanical works, and Dr. Behr's Botany of the Vicinity of San 

 Francisco have all been used in compiling the descriptions 

 and making the Key. 



