INTRODUCTION. 



IX 



to insure the publication ok one volume of the Flora of California. The 

 names of these gentlemen will be found on the page following the title. 

 As soon as possible after this munificent act, an arrangement was made with 

 Mr. Sereno Watson, late Botanist of the Fortieth Parallel Survey, to under- 

 take the necessary revision of the Polypetalw, previously prepared by Pro- 

 fessor Brewer, but which needed still further elaboration. Professor Gray, 

 in accordance with previous arrangement, was ready with the Gfamopetalce, 

 and, to insure greater uniformity, all the ordinal characters of the volume 

 have also been written by him. There has been no interruption in the work 

 since the necessary funds were raised for its continuance. It is not neces- 

 sary to insist on the reasons why the preparation of this volume has involved 

 a much larger amount of labor and of time than was originally expected. 

 Botanists will not fail to appreciate the magnitude of the task thus under- 

 taken, and will recognize the great difference between a work like the present 

 one and even the most complete of the botanical reports which have hitherto 

 accompanied or formed a part of the reports of Government expeditions. 

 It only remains for me to thank those who have contributed to this volume 

 either intellectually or pecuniarily, and to express rny sincere regret that the 

 Legislature of California has just adjourned without having made any pro- 

 vision for the continuance of the Botany, or for bringing before the world 

 other portions of the results of the Survey already in process of publication, 

 or nearly ready for it, at the time the work was suspended by the Legislature 

 of 1873-74. 



Should the means be secured for the publication of the second volume 

 of the Botany of California, it will contain the remaining exogenous (the 

 Apetalcc and the Gymnospermce), the endogenous, and the cryptogamous 

 orders. It is proposed also to add an accented list of generic names with 

 their derivations ; and a chronological list of botanical collectors on the 

 west coast of America, together with an index to the genera and species 

 of the entire Flora, and a glossary of the botanical terms used. 



J. D. WHITNEY. 



CAMBRIDGE, MASS., April 15, 1876. 



