MISC. PUBLICATION 303, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
of different sections of the country have supplied others. A few 
names have been collected by the author, more notably in the South- 
west where, incidentally, a great many plants as well as towns, rivers, 
and mountains, are called by Mexican or Spanish names, 
Nevertheless, there yet remain several hundred species that do not 
bear distinctive vernacular names. They appear in the list with 
no other than a Latin nam_e, the author believing that one person is 
not armed with sufficient authority to coin names for them. 
Many species appear under a number of different vernacular names, 
some of which may also be applied indiscriminately to various other 
species. In this work the selection of the most descriptive name has 
been made after careful consideration of the characters of the plant. 
The common name is placed opposite the Latin name ; the remaining 
synonymous vernacular names may be found in the list of common 
and scientific names of woody plants (p. 322) . The more commonly 
used vernacular names are there referred to the species that often 
bears them. Incidentally, this discussion should infonn those less 
familiar with plant names that the use of a common name, where ex- 
actitude is desired, is never as satisfactory as the use of the correct 
Latin name. 
RANGE 
The user of the woody plant list will find a series of numbers under 
each species after Range. Each number refers to a plant-growth 
region shown on Mulford's map (fig. 1). The series of numbers 
imder any given species expresses its approximate geographic range. 
To determine the plant-growth regions in which a plant can be 
planted with most confidence, the geographic range of the particular 
species was superimposed upon a map of Mulford's growth regions. 
The numbers were then read off. In many instances a plant may be 
found growing naturally in only a portion of a growth region, but as- 
suming conditions within a given region to be reasonably constant, 
the plant is stated to be able to grow an3rwhere in the entire growth 
region. For this reason, it is obvious that the actual geographic 
range of any native species is not necessarily expressed with 
exactitude. 
Interpretation of distribution with respect to the plant-growth re- 
gions has been conservative. The range of each species has been 
checked against records in local floras and published citations of spec- 
imens. T\^iere a question exists, the growth region involved has been 
omitted. The growth regions herein published, therefore, depend in 
no way upon any belief the author may have that the planting of a 
given species will probably be safe in adjacent growth regions. If 
a growth region is listed for a species it has been ascertained that 
the plant actually does grow there. 
Comparison of climatic and soil conditions in one growth region 
with those in others may point the way to the introduction of a 
species^ from one region to another. Here as with other considera- 
tions, in this work the facts x)nly are presented; any conclusions 
drawn from them must be those of the user of the list. 
SITE DESIGNATIONS 
Plants grow in dry soil, moist soil, or in fresh or well-drained soil. 
They are to be found in the sun, or in the shade, or in both, or some- 
