The Collection of Information of Information and Literature Relating to the Flora

In commencing the identification of British Columbia native plants, it was found that there was no “Flora” which dealt adequately with the native species, and it was necessary to procure the “Floras” of the adjacent States and of Eastern Canada. The most useful work in this connection giving information on the flora of British Columbia is the Catalogue of Canadian Plants prepared by Prof. John Macoun, Naturalist to the Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada, but, being a catalogue, it simply indicates those plants which Professor Macoun has found, or has received records of, from all parts of Canada, including British Columbia.

Literature on the Algae is very meager. Harvey's “Nereis Boreali Americana,” Setchell and Gardner’s “Algae of North-West America,” Miss Tilden's “Minnesota Algae,” and F. Shipley Collins' “Green Algae of North America” contain occasional references to species found in British Columbia.

With regard to fungi, there is a great field for work here. The native parasitic and saprophytic fungi are met with on every hand. There is practically no information concerning the fungus flora of the Province, although many are described in some American books dealing with mushrooms and plant-diseases.

Amongst the most useful books available for the Bryophyta are Tuckerman’s “Lichens,” Schneider’s “Lichens,” Dr. Grout’s “Handbook to the Study of Mosses,” and Lesquereux & James’ “Mosses of North America,” but these are more suited for Eastern workers than for those west of the Rocky Mountains.

For the Pteridophyta and Spermaphyta it is necessary to have a number of “Floras,” including those of the East as well as those of Western States, in addition to securing the publications of botanical institutions for the descriptions of new species. Howell’s “Flora of Oregon,” Piper’s “Flora of Washington,” Coulter & Gray’s and Coulter & Nelson’s “Flora of the Rocky Mountain Region,” Gray’s “Flora of North America,” Hooker’s “Flora Boreali Americana,” etc., are more or less necessary to cover the majority of British Columbia species.

It may safely be said that at the present time the botany of the North-west is in a rather chaotic state, owing to the uncertainty of many species, due in a large measure to the amount of variation corresponding with many different environments. There is little doubt that, on closer study of the specimens in the field, ecological botanists will be able to place many so-called species in their true position as mere variations of well-defined species. This is especially true in regard to species which have been segregated on very artificial characters based chiefly on the examination of herbarium specimens.

It is a frequent occurrence to find two floras at variance with each other on the same species, and equally common to find two or even three descriptions of the same plant under different names. It is one of the aims of the Botanical Office to procure copies of all works containing the original descriptions of native species, so that a beginning may be made in reducing the existing chaos to some order.