INTRODUCTION. 



The first necessity for any forestry work is a knowledge of the trees 

 which the forester is apt to meet in the forest, and again the first 

 knowledge before he can think or talk of trees is that of their names. 



While most of our forest trees are named both by botanists and lay- 

 men, a great number of entirely different kinds, or species, have received 

 the same name, and also the same species has received a great number 

 of names by which it is called in different parts of its range of occur- 

 rence. This confusion of names has led not only to many annoying 

 inconveniences and misunderstandings, but often to fatal mistakes, as 

 when a nurseryman fills an order with an entirely different kind of tree 

 than was intended by the customer, or when a lumberman supplies an 

 architect with an unsuitable material because their ideas as to what 

 was ordered are at variance. Hence, the Division of Forestry has con- 

 sidered it a first duty to arrive at a uniform and stable nomenclature, 

 both of scientific and vernacular names, by a revision of the existing 

 names, or synonymy, in the hope that, while neither uniformity nor sta- 

 bility can be brought about by the mere publication of a list of names, 

 such publication, carefully considered, might at least pave the way for 

 such a desired end. 



The botanical names have been revised according to certain laws 

 now adopted by many botanists. The revision has been made by the 

 competent Dendrologist of the Division, Mr. George B. Sud worth, and 

 has been printed with a full synonymy and explanations in Bulletin 

 No. 14 of this Division, Nomenclature of the Arborescent Flora of the 

 United States. This bulky publication was, however, printed only in 

 limited numbers, thereby preventing its widespread use. Since for 

 practical uses it was not necessary to state the entire botanical syn- 

 onymy, and in order to make the work more accessible, the present 

 check list, being in part an abbreviated and amended reproduction of 

 Bulletin No. 14, has been prepared. 



For better identification, and in order to increase the value of the 

 list, the geograx)hical range of the species has been added in a few 

 brief Avords. 



The list of names comprises an enumeration of all the trees indig- 

 enous to the United States, 495 in number, the designation of "tree" 

 being applied to all woody plants which produce naturally in their 

 native habitat one main, erect stem bearing a definite crown, no matter 

 what size they attain. 



