1914] CURRENT LITERATURE 333 
Flora of Manila 
In no place in the tropics has botanical work made such great strides as 
in the Philippines. This is particularly true of the systematic botany work of 
the Bureau of Science under the energetic direction of ELMER D. MERRILL. 
Until recently no effort had been made to collect the numerous taxonomic 
papers into a flora for any particular region. The flora of Manila? is not a 
sufficiently comprehensive title, because the work really covers the flora of the 
more populated coastal regions of the entire archipelago. About rooo species, 
or approximately one-sixth of the total number of species known from the 
came are described. These are distributed among 591 genera and 136 
amilies. 
The bringing together under one cover of one-sixth of the known flora of 
the Philippines will make useful a large number of descriptions of plants that 
heretofore have been practically inaccessible to anyone except the specialist. 
€ usefulness of the work to the layman is enhanced by definition of terms 
used in descriptive botany (pp. 9-20), some remarks on classification (pp. 20- 
21), directions for preparing botanical specimens (pp. 21-23), some remarks on 
the preparation of the material for the herbarium (pp. 24-25), and a glossary 
of technical terms (pp. 25-33). 
The flora includes practically all the species of vascular cryptogams and 
flowering plants growing naturally within the Manila district, and most of the 
cultivated forms both of Philippine and of foreign origin. In it one can find 
descriptions of nearly all the useful and ornamental plants of the Islands, 
except the timber trees. 
It is to be hoped that the recent reorganization of the scientific staff of the 
Bureau of Science will not materially interfere with progress in this kind of 
work. Another five years ought to bring forth a flora of the Philippine 
Islands.—H. N. Wurrrorp. 
A plant physiology 
A plant physiology by Kotxwzrz; offers several features that are novel for 
@ book bearing its general title. Unusual emphasis is given to the lower forms; 
60 pages are devoted to the physiology of “phanerogams” and almost 200 to 
the study of “cryptogams.” This change of emphasis has the advantage of 
ringing into prominence such cosmic cycles as the nitrogen cycle without in 
any way detracting from an understanding of other physiological processes. 
The book, however, can hardly be called a plant physiology. It contains many 
cece 
* Merritt, E. D., The flora of Manila. pp. 490. Bureau of Science, Manila. 
1gt2, 
* Korxwrrz, R., Pflanzenphysiologie, Versuche und Beobachtung en an héheren 
und niederen Pflanzen einschliesslich Bakteriologie und Hydrobiologie mit Plankton- 
Kunde. V. 8yo, pp. 258. pls. 1-12. figs. 116. Jena: Gustav Fischer. 1914. 
