THE BOTANICAL OPPORTUNITY IN COLORADO 



By Francis Ramaley 



To discuss botanical opportunity in Colorado may seem a needless 

 task, for the great problems of plant life are the same the world over. 

 Colorado, however, offers some special opportunities for study, partly 

 because of the geology, geography and climate, and partly because here 

 is an almost unworked field. 1 True, the total number of seed plants 

 known for the state is very large, larger than for any state except Cali- 

 fornia, but the bare record of their occurrence and collection is but a 

 first step in botanical work. 



The publication of the Flora of Colorado 2 should mark the beginning 

 of an era of investigation in field and laboratory. Until the appearance 

 of this list it was out of the question for any but a taxonomist to work 

 with satisfaction on the flora of the state. Reference books of recent 

 date there were none, and the scattered descriptions of plants in botanical 

 journals were often very confusing. No one knew how many species 

 there were in the state and few had any definite idea of their geographical 

 distribution. This essential pioneer work of listing the plants has now 

 been done and it is possible for botanists with other than taxonomic 

 training to work on the problems which the plants of this interesting 

 region present. 



It must not be supposed that the knowledge of Colorado species thus 

 far gained is at all comprehensive. There is still much room left for the 

 collector. Many parts of the state have not been visited by botanists 

 and even those parts that are most accessible have been imperfectly 

 collected. There should be local lists worked out for every county. 

 Indeed with some of our counties embracing large areas and diverse 

 conditions nothing less than three or four lists from different points 

 would give adequate information about the flora. 



1 The small amount of work done in Colorado botany, other than that of coll ecting and naming species, 

 is seen by reference to the "Bibliography and History of Colorado Botany," pp. 51-76, in this number of 

 these Studies. 



' Rydberg, Flora 0) Colo., Bull. 100, Colo. Agr. Exp. Sta., 1006. 



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