126 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [ AUGUST 
merican Grasses, in which all the North American species are to be fig- 
ured, but as it will be some time before the remaining figures can be 
engraved, he has now published three hundred of those now completed. A 
useful introduction clearly characterizes the family and the tribes in the light 
of the most recent studies. Each page is occupied by the illustration of a 
single species, below which a brief description is printed, just such a 
description as would occur in a manual, with habitat, range, necessary 
synonymy, etc. The 300 species presented represent 98 genera, and all of 
the 12 tribes occurring in the United States excepting Bambusez. Professor 
Scribner’s drawings are well known for their excellence, and the bulletin 
will certainly be very valuable to students of grasses.—J. M. C 
IT SEEMS STRANGE to open a manual bearing the date of 1897, and to 
discover that the plants are arranged according to the Linnzean system. This 
is true, however, of the Axcursionsflora® of Dr. Karl Fritsch; and why is not 
the plan an excellent one when facility in finding a name is the only end in 
view? It has long seemed to us that editions of field manuals and her- 
barium manuals with Linnean keys might be very useful. In the vast 
majority of cases a manual is consulted to discover a specific description, 
and the most rapid way of discovering the description is a thing to be 
desired. Besides, most of our manual keys are already artificial. It is not 
certain, therefore, that the manual before us is to be regarded as an “ancient 
type,” but rather a genuine modern type, which ball — real thing 
sought and then selects the quickest way of getting it.—J. 
Mr. F. V. Covite has published some notes® upon the plants used by 
the Klamath Indians of Oregon. In the list given there are a few plants 
which give a suggestion of usefulness in our own arts and industries. Among 
these may be mentioned the yellow pine lichen, which produces a beautiful 
canary yellow dye; the Rocky mountain flax, which furnishes a strong fine 
er; and several of the tuberous rooted perennials of the parsley family, 
which make palatable and nutritious food. 
Mr. THoMAS HOWELL has begun the publication of a new American 
flora ® covering a region that has not been provided with a manual. The 
area is defined as ‘‘north of California, west of Utah, and south of British 
Columbia,” which means that it is chiefly a flora of Washington, Oregon, and 
8FritscH, Dr. Kari.—Excursionsflora fiir Oesterreich (mit Ausschluss von 
Salisien, Bukowina und Ras Rae Mit theilweiser Beniitzung des “ Botanischen 
bu 
Excursionsbuches” yon G. Lorinser. Small 8vo. pp. Ixxii+664. Wien: Car 
Gerold’s peas 
9Con 
rib. ae iosk. 5: 87-108. 
1 HOWELL, THOMAs.—A flora of ae cio America. Vol. I. Fasc. 1 [Ranun- 
culacez to eat 8vo. pp. 112. Portland, Oregon: The author. 50 cents. 
