INTRODUCTION 29 



Woody vines are fairly distinct in our climate, though there 

 are a few species which are only occasionally or doubtfully woody, 

 like CcbatJia, and a few which sometimes stand up fairly straight 

 and sometimes lean or climb on other shrubs, like Sageretia and 

 some of the roses. Nearly all have very light and porous stems, 

 which enable some of them to climb tall trees and attain a diameter 

 of two or three inches without putting an undue strain on the tree. 

 It happens that nearly all of them grow in places which are pretty 

 well protected from fire, such as steep bluffs, hammocks and 

 swamps. 



METHOD OF TREATMENT. 



In the following catalogue all the trees, shrubs and vines, 

 native and introduced, are put in a single list, and arranged in very 

 nearly the same order as in JXIohr's Plant Life, Small's Flora, Sud- 

 worth's Check List, etc. (the so-called Eichler or Engler & Prantl 

 system, adopted about forty years ago), beginning with the most 

 primitive types and ending with those which are thought to be the 

 most highly specialized. It should be understood, however, that 

 even if we had all the facts about the ancestry of our plants, their 

 true relationship can never be shown in a linear sequence, any 

 more than the counties of the state can be listed in a single column 

 without separating some that are adjacent. A two-dimensional 

 arrangement would be more logical, and three perhaps still better. 



After the name of each family is a brief statement of the 

 number of known species and their general distribution and eco- 

 nomic properties. This is compiled from various sources, and is 

 included here because most botanical books (including Mohr's 

 Plant Life) do not give that sort of information. 



The treatment of each species begins with its technical name 

 (with synonyms if the name has been changed within a generation 

 or so), and its common name or names, giving preference to those 

 current in Alabama and adjoining states. In our botanical manuals 

 many trees and other plants are given alleged common names which 

 are rarely if ever used by persons not botanists, some of them 

 indeed arbitrarily bestowed by the botanists themselves. Again, 

 the same plant may have different common names in the North 

 and South, and as most of our botanical books are written in the 



