620 iSTEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



deplored and is the source of much perplexity and annoyance. Such 

 changes should never be made except in accordance with well-recog- 

 nized principles of justice and for the sake of ultimate uniformity and 

 permanency. Evidently desirous of putting our botanical nomenclature 

 on a firm foundation the authors of the recently issued Illustrated flora 

 have made a rigid application of the law of priority, both to generic and 

 specific names. More than 600 names of our New York species of 

 flowering plants and ferns included in this work have been changed. 

 This is nearly one third the whole number and necessitates the rejection 

 of nearly one in three, if the nomenclature of the Illustrated flora is 

 adopted in place of that of the Manual. 



This may cause some temporary inconvenience to the older botanists 

 who have been familiar with other names, but if it shall be the means 

 of securing greater uniformity and stability of nomenclature it will be 

 worth all the temporary inconvenience Some of the changes have been 

 caused by a better understanding of certain species, and some by raising 

 forms previously regarded as varieties to the rank of species. This 

 element of instability is not likely to be eliminated so long as mistakes 

 in identification are made and so long as there are differences of opinion 

 as to what should constitute a species and what a variety. But the 

 changed names due to these causes are few in comparison with those 

 due to the requirements of the law of priority. To show in compact 

 form the changes made in the names of our New York species, a list of 

 these names has been prepared in which the names adopted in the 

 Manual %\.?ix\^ in a colunn on the left of the page, and the correspond- 

 ing names in the Illustrated flora^ in a column on the right. This list 

 is marked C. 



The 46 species not before reported are noticed under the letter D. 

 Some are plants of comparatively recent introduction, some have been 

 previously regarded as mere varieties of other species, but are now 

 recognized as d stinct species. A few are considered^ new species and 

 are named nd described as such. A record of observations on species 

 previously eported, remarks concerning them and descriptions of new 

 varieties is marked E. 



Mt Marcy is the highest peak of the Adirondacks and of the state. 

 Its summit is too elevated to permit trees to grow there in any other 

 than a dwarf or shrub-like form and but few of the m.ost hardy species 

 appear there even in this form. This leaves the summit open to 

 the full sunlight and inhabitable by hardy shrubs, undershrubs and her- 

 baceous plants. The locaHty is also prolific in such mosses, liverworts 



