TAXONOMIC CLASSIFICATION OF THE FLORA. 



In the following pages are arranged in systematic sequence 

 the species which have already been classified according to habitat 

 and adaptations, together with a few which do not appear in the 

 foregoing habitat lists because their habitats are not sufficiently 

 understood. The sequence is mainly that of Engler & Prantl's 

 NaUir lichen Pflanzenfamilien, but reversed, for it seems more 

 expedient to begin with the flowering plants, which are best 

 known, and to place the comparatively little known bryophytes 

 and thallophytes last, ending with forms whose status in the 

 vegetable kingdom is not universally accepted. In so doing I 

 follow the usage of most systematists from Linnaeus to Gray. 

 This implies no discredit to the accepted theories of evolution, 

 but is primarily a matter of convenience. There seems to be no 

 logical reason why the top of the series is not just as good to 

 begin with as the bottom. This is analogous to the practice of 

 geologists, who always begin their stratigraphic sections at the 

 top. 



As far as the arrangement of genera and species within the 

 families is concerned, I usually follow Small's Flora of the South- 

 eastern United States , which is the latest systematic treatment of 

 the plants of that region. In a few cases I have deviated from 

 Dr. Small's arrangement in order to bring closely related genera 

 or species nearer together. The treatment of genera and species 

 herein is in most cases a little more conservative than that in 

 Small's Flora. 



Nomenclature is in a somewhat unsettled state at present, 

 pending the adoption of the Philadelphia or the Vienna rules, and 

 in trying to avoid the defects of the older systems and adopt the 

 best features of the new I have doubtless allowed some incon- 

 sistencies to creep in, all of which cannot very well be eliminated 

 until the nomenclature of the whole flora of the southeastern 



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