li. 
The checklist includes 553 species of vascular cryptogams and 
phanerogams, distributed among 98 families. They were collected at 
Java Farm in the autumn of 1965 and at both Java Farm and Ivy Neck 
during the growing seasons of 1966 and 1967. Collection will be 
started at Corn Island in 1968 and continued elsewhere in coordination 
with studies of vegetation development. An appendix (p. 228) is 
provided for the addition of new species. It now contains eight 
species collected during the preparation of this checklist. When the 
Center becomes further developed the checklist will be revised for 
final publication. 
The families represented in the checklist are indexed on page 16, 
and arranged according to the Engler and Prantl system. When a family 
is represented by more than one species artificial keys are provided. 
Although many of the keys are set up in a form similar to that used in 
Gray's Manual of Botany, 8th edition (Fernald, 1950), the keys developed 
for this checklist are less extensive than Fernald's, since they are 
restricted to the flora of the Center and its near vicinity. In 
addition, the terminology has been simplified and in some of the more 
complex keys the sequence has been revised. 
The keys in three families have been adapted from those of local 
taxonomic studies compiled for the Washington-Baltimore area, which 
includes Anne Arundel County (Hermann, 1946). These three families 
are the Gramineae (Gilman, 1957), the Cyperaceae (Hermann, 1941), 
(O'Neill, 1941), and the Umbelliferae (Dayton, 1942). The adapted 
