Book Reviews. 



295 



"A YosEMiTE "A Yosemite Flora" is the title of a most attrac- 

 Flora."* tive hand-book by Professor Harvey Monroe 



Hall and Carlotta Case Hall. The sub-title indi- 

 cates the scope of the book as "a descriptive account of the fern 

 and flowering plants, including the trees, of the Yosemite National 

 Park ; with simple keys for their identification ; designed to be 

 useful throughout the Sierra Nevada Mountains." It is taste- 

 fully bound in brown leather, and is illustrated with eleven ex- 

 cellent photogravure plates and one hundred and seventy outline 

 figures in the text. Being of convenient pocket size, 4^4 x 

 inches, printed in clear, pleasing type on light-weight paper, the 

 book almost utters an audible "take-me-with-you" to one who 

 wishes to know our mountain flora. The authors state that in 

 preparing the manual they have "made use of every available 

 source of information and have themselves botanized over much 

 of the park." The grasses, sedges, rushes, and some of the 

 umbelliferce (parsley family) have been omitted, since the amateur 

 botanist would find them too difficult to concern himself with 

 them. As it is, the number of species and varieties described 

 amounts to 955. The total number of flowering plants and ferns 

 in the 1,124 square miles of the park is estimated to be not less 

 than twelve hundred. The remarkably rich and varied character 

 of this vegetation is due to the great variety of climatic and 

 topographical conditions to be found within the area of the park. 



These conditions and the various zones, determined by altitude, 

 are discussed by the authors in an excellent introduction of six- 

 teen pages. The reviewer is pleased to find that the authors have 

 made no concession to that ephemeral kind of botanical interest 

 which wants to determine flowering plants by means of a color 

 key. The beginner is encouraged to begin his botanizing prop- 

 erly, from the beginning, by the use of a well-made analytical 

 key which often is carried beyond the family to the genera. A 

 glossary of technical terms, and illustrated explanations of leaf- 

 forms, leaf-margins, venation and inflorescence, furnish safe and 

 interesting guidance to anyone who wishes to know the fascinat- 

 ing and beautiful flora of the Sierra Nevada. The authors are to 

 be congratulated on the production of this book, which should 

 find ready sale and diligent use among members of the Sierra 

 Club. Paul Elder & Co. are the pubhshers. W. F. B. 



* A Yosemite Flora. By Harvey Monroe Hall, Assistant Professor of 

 Botany in the University of California, and Carlotta Case Hall. Paul 

 Elder & Co., Publishers, San Francisco. 1912. Leather binding, 282 pages; 

 beautifully illustrated. Price, $2.00. 



