FLORAS OF THE WORLD 5 



INTRODUCTION 



The primary purpose of this publication is usefulness, not bibli- 

 ographical completeness. Its aim is to furnish an annotated catalog 

 of all the now useful floras and floristic works, including those in 

 periodical literature, that list or describe the complete vascular flora 

 (or the phanerogams only) of any region or locality, and to include 

 as well all publications dealing on the same scale with useful and 

 medicinal plants, vernacular names, and botanical bibliography. In 

 general, only the later works relating to a given region or subject 

 are included, although earlier publications are usually mentioned 

 under the titles of works that have replaced them. Publications 

 dealing with only a part of the flora, such as a single family or larger 

 group of the flowering plants or the pteridophytes only, or a single 

 group of useful plants, such as those producing dyes, resins, or forage, 

 are excluded, except for complete papers on edible, medicinal, or 

 wood}^ plants. Occasional titles relating to weeds and poisonous 

 plants, chiefly from the botanical point of view, have been included, 

 although no attempt has been made to include all papers on these 

 subjects. In the case of little-known regions without complete floras, 

 some publications of an incomplete nature, such as lists of species 

 obtained by individual collectors or expeditions, have been inserted, 

 as have also some miscellaneous papers not falling strictly within the 

 scope of the list as defined. In general, no attempt has been made 

 to evaluate the titles listed, but references to critical reviews are 

 given when available. Papers that are primarily ecological have 

 been excluded unless they contain fairly complete lists of the plants 

 of the areas discussed. Works of the "popular" type, intended for 

 beginners in botany, have been omitted, as well as works that are 

 now only of historical value. The list is intended to be complete 

 through 1939, and no later titles have been inserted. 



The selective nature of this work has left the authors free to omit 

 a few papers dealing with areas so small that they can be disregarded 

 by all but the local botanist dealing in a very special way with the 

 regions concerned, and also those few lists that are so full of errors 

 or so incomplete that their inclusion would serve no useful purpose. 

 These intentional omissions aside, this publication can be taken as 

 providing an annotated summary of the available nominally complete 

 publications on the vascular flora and the economic botany of the 

 world. Unintentional omissions will, of course, be found by users, 

 and additions will be gratefully received by the authors. 



No list of the scope of this one has ever been published. Daydon 

 Jackson's Guide to the Literature of Botany, 2 now over 60 years old, 

 dealt almost entirely with independently published works, and its 

 few annotations were mainly bibliographical. A 12-page publication 

 by Prof. G. L. Goodale, 3 of about the same date, listed geographically 

 and chronologically the more important independently published 



2 Jackson, B. D. guide to the literature of botany ; being a classified selection 



OF BOTANICAL WORKS, INCLUDING NEARLY 6,000 TITLES NOT GIVEN IN PRITZEL'S THESAURUS. 



xl, 626 p. 22 cm. London, 1881. (Index Society Publications, viii.) 



3 Goodale, George L. the floras of different countries. Bibl. Contrib. Libr. Harvard 

 Univ. 9. 12 p. 1879. (Reprinted from Bui. Libr. Harvard Univ. no. 10, 11, and 12.) — 

 Partly annotated list, geographically grouped, then arranged in chronological order ; 

 includes for the most part only separately published works, many of which are now 

 only of historical value. Almost none of the smaller local floras are included. 



