THE LITERATURE OF NORTH AMERICAN 

 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 

 Professor Charles E. Bessey. 



There are so many times when the young forester must 

 know how to determine the classification of the plants of the 

 region in which he is at work that it has seemed advisable -to 

 make a concise statement here of what books he should have 

 access to when such necessity arises. Some of these he should 

 have with him in the field, but in order to make this article as 

 useful as possible I have included quite a number of works that 

 are only to be found in the larger and more complete college 

 and university libraries, to which the forester may turn in order 

 to consult them. I am quite of the opinion that some of the 

 books that I list should be found in the permanent headquarters 

 of the forest officials, and others should be owned individually 

 by the foresters themselves, yet I know very well that no great 

 burden of this kind should be laid upon the shoulders of men 

 who too often can ill afford the expense of purchasing and 

 transporting many books. 



At the outset it must be said that we do not yet have a gen- 

 eral manual which includes in one work all the higher plants 

 of the whole country. So the forester is obliged to use the book 

 or books best suited to the particular locality concerned. , Herein 

 is to be found the reason and necessity for such an article as 

 this. When once we have a manual covering the whole country 

 it will no longer be necessary to instruct the young forester in 

 regard to the many books on Systematic Botany with which he 

 must be acquainted. Until that time he must resort to the best 

 of the many books now available, and while on the one hand 

 he must not overlook any necessary works, on the other he 

 should not waste his time on those that are valueless. In arrang- 



