FLORAS OF THE WORLD 9 



ered by descriptive floras, for instance Alaska or most of the Central 

 American countries, should remember that the utility of such publica- 

 tions is increased manyfold by the inclusion of keys, supplemented 

 if possible by brief descriptions, and that, if choice must be made, some 

 of the space taken up by detailed citation of exsiccatae and various 

 other less essential matter can be much more profitably employed for 

 this purpose. Authors of supplements to published material should 

 give a full reference to the title and place of publication of the original 

 paper. 



Despite its occasional omissions, the present publication is suffi- 

 ciently complete to afford data for a summary of the knowledge of 

 the floras of more than half the world; all, that is, except Europe 

 and Asia and their associated islands. The extent of the lack of 

 detailed knowledge of the floras of much of this part of the world, 

 with the honorable exceptions of Greenland, Australasia, and a con- 

 siderable proportion of the islands, is brought out in the following 

 paragraphs, which necessarily pass over the numerous strictly local 

 lists or partial floras. 



Africa. — Of the 49 geographical divisions here employed (exclud- 

 ing the Sahara, South Africa, and West Africa) , there are more or 

 less complete floras, containing descriptions or kevs, of seven, as 

 follows: Algeria (1888-1910), Anglo-Egyptian "Sudan (1929), 

 Angola (1937 — ; in process of publication), Egypt (1912, plus list 

 of 220 additional forms in 1930), Swaziland and Transvaal together 

 (1926 — ; in process of publication), and Tunisia (1902). Of these, 

 only the still unfinished floras of Angola and of Transvaal and Swazi- 

 land can really be regarded as satisfactory. The known flora of 

 Algeria has been greatly increased since 1910; Broun and Massey's 

 Flora of the Sudan is rather a field book than a sufficient flora; 

 Muschlers Flora of Egypt is presumably as unreliable as his other 

 publications; and the keyed list of the flora of Tunis (with Algeria) 

 published by Battandier and Trabut in 1902, with its predecessor, 

 Bonnet and Barratte's Catalogue of 1896, is long out of date. 



Some 19 additional countries or colonies are represented by more 

 or less extensively annotated lists, without keys or descriptions except 

 of the new species: Belgian Congo (1909-21), Eritrea (1903-07; 

 never completed), Gambia (1907, 1922), Gold Coast (1914, 1930, 

 1937), Italian Somalilancl (1929-36; extensive, but not a compre- 

 hensive flora), Kenya (1922, 1936), Liberia (1937), Libya (1910), 

 Morocco (1931-34), Natal (1921), Nyasalancl (1898), Rio de Oro 

 (1914) , Sao Thome (1886-92) , Sierra Leone (1916 ; not seen) , Southern 

 Rhodesia (1916), South- West Africa (1917-28), Tanganyika 

 (1929 — ; not yet finished), Uganda (1902), and possibly Zanzibar 

 (ca. 1890). 



The following 23 countries, colonies, and protectorates are entirely 

 without general floras or lists limited to their area, although all but 

 2 (Bechuanaland, Ruanda and Urundi) have been the subject of 

 partial papers cited in this bibliography : Basutoland, Bechuanaland, 

 Bechuanaland Protectorate, British Somaliland, Cameroons, Cape of 

 Good Hope, Dahomey, Ethiopia (except for Richard's ancient flora), 

 French Equatorial Africa, French Guinea, French Somaliland, French 

 West Africa, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria (except 

 for Hooker and Bentham's ancient Niger Flora) , Northern Rhodesia, 



