the 
CURRENT LITERATURE. 
BOOK REVIEWS. 
The Flora of Montana.* 
Not since Dr. Coulter’s Manual of the Flora of the Rocky Mountains was 
issued has so important a contribution to the botany of this region appeared 
as Dr. Rydberg’s work which now lies before us. The workers in this vast 
empire, known as the Rocky mountains, learned with pleasure, some months 
since, that this author was engaged upon a F/ora of Montana, and its appear- 
ance was awaited with some impatience. The magnitude of the task was 
probably only half appreciated even by those who are actively engaged in 
the study of the plants of this same general region. Though the title-page 
denominates it a catalogue of the flora, it is far more than that, and is like- 
wise more than an annotated catalogue. Each species is treated almost 
exhaustively: citations of publication, the more important synonymy, notes 
upon habitat and distribution are given, and following this an enumeration of 
the specimens examined. In the case of new species, specimens from 
adjacent states are also cited, in so far as they were known to the author. 
The introduction is interesting in showing the circumstances which led to 
the inception of the enterprise, with some history of the exploring expeditions 
which secured, in part, the collections upon which the F/orais based. Nearly 
all the collections that have been made from the time of Lewis and Clark to 
the present seem to have been available for study, and it is really remarkable 
how many expeditions have touched to a greater or less extent upon Mon- 
tana soil. 
In the development of the botany of western America it is noticeable that 
early explorations were, in large part, in the far west or northwest ; that 
es the arctic portions of British America were known long before the 
lectors and explorers, Drummond, Douglas, etc., are embalmed in the litera- 
ture which has been the basis of west American botany. In the Rocky 
mountain region of the United States the southern half was developed 
» as witness the work of Fendler, of the Mexican 
of the Wheeler Expedition, etc. In the northern half, we 
ailroad Surveys, King’s Expedition, Parry's and Coulter's 
but even these dealt largely with the plants of the Pacific slope 
Oundary Survey, 
have the Pacific R 
Reports, etc., 
ie lalicenet PER AXEL: Catalogue of the Flora of Montana and Yellowstone 
ak sum Fatk. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, Vol. I. 8vo. pp- xi 
1900] 
61 
