The Flora of the Cayuga Lake Basin 7 



species are retained. Accurate scientific taxonomy would seem to require 

 some such means of indicating and classifying lack of uniformity within 

 the species. Differences between plants are of different grades, and 

 without this finer means of expression the comparative value of the 

 differences must often be misrepresented. Species are distinct from one 

 another. Varieties run together. The term variety as here employed 

 usually indicates the extreme of a more or less continuous series, either 

 local or geographical. The distinction is not usually employed, however, 

 unless there is a sufficient break in the series at some point to render 

 the separation of the variety of practical value. Generally the variety is 

 characterized by the extreme of only one or two characters. Form is com- 

 parable to the old terms sport and freak, and represents an incidental con- 

 dition which may appear independently wherever the species is found. 

 Following the general English and American practice, the variety of a 

 polymorphic species on which that species was established is not separated 

 as var. typica, but is treated as the species itself or as the typical form of 

 the species, without further designation. 



Many forms occur in the flora which give the appearance of being 

 natural hybrids. If this seems the most rational explanation when all 

 evidence is considered, they are so treated in the text. In such cases 

 it must be remembered that their hybrid origin is not proved, but rests 

 on circumstantial evidence. Hybrids are not given nomenclatorial status 

 in this work, except occasionally when there is a citation of their sup- 

 posed parents connected by the sign X- If they are given definite names, 

 their status in taxonomy is unduly emphasized and they are likely to be 

 confused in standing with the real species from which they have been 

 derived. 



In the catalog part of the text, the statements regarding habitat and 

 frequency, and the lists of stations, have been formulated to express the 

 views of the authors based on their experience. The dates of flowering 

 are taken from Dudley's Flora, but they have been checked by recent 

 collections and observations, and modified when the experience of the 

 authors would indicate them to be incorrect. The ranges are added for 

 the convenience of students of plant geography, as well as to give every 

 student some idea of where the plant is found. These ranges are taken 

 freely from current manuals, but they have frequently been emended when 

 further knowledge of the plant has made this necessary. It is not claimed, 

 however, that they are more than reasonably accurate. 



Perhaps the part of this text most liable to error is that dealing with 

 the soil preferences and with occurrence on the Coastal Plain. Actual 

 scientific knowledge of the soil requirements of individual species is as 

 yet very meager, and only impressions from general experience could be 

 drawn upon for the statements given. A beginning in soil study is so 

 important, however, that it was thought best to record what is locally, 

 though imperfectly, known. In order to throw light on soil requirements, 



