NEMOPHILA Meeting and Field Guide CALIFORNIA BOTANICAL SOCIETY MAY 1, 1919 NUMBER 3 The purpose of the Society is to promote the botanical study and investigation of California plants , to diffuse knowledge con- cerning them , and by lectures , field-trips , exhibitions and publica- tions to deepen interest in the native flora amongst the people of California. REGULAR MEETING Saturday, May 10, 7:45 p. m. at the Oakland Public Museum, 1426 Oak Street. Prof. W. 0. Blasdale of the University of California will be the speaker of the evening. His topic will he “Life History Notes on California Rusts ’ ’ . FIELD TRIPS. Sunday, May 4. Oolma Canyon, South San Fran- cisco. Take car No. 14 or No. 26 at 9:00 a. m. from the Ferry building, San Francisco. Meet on Crocker boulevard, one block this side of Daly City at about 9:30. Bring lunch. Leader, Mrs. Inez May Smith. Sunday, May 18. No trip on account of the Tamal- pais Mountain Play. Saturday, May 25. Field study of native and intro- duced grasses. Meet at Thousand Oaks station, South- ern Pacific at 10 a. m. Bring lunch and bring your friends. Leader, Prof. P. B. Kennedy. May 29 to June 3. Camping trip to “The Nest”, the mountain home of N. T. Hollingsworth near Orr’s Hot Springs, Mendocino Co., to study the Redwood Giants of the Montgomery grove with their accompany- ing redwood flora. Those intending to go should com- municate with Miss Amy Rinehart, 540 E. 7th Street, Oakland (telephone Merritt 3606). 10 Saturday, June 8. A study of the cultivated plants and shrubs at the Garber estate, north of Claremont Hotel, Berkeley. Meet at ‘ ‘Bellerose’ ’, 15 Tanglewood Road, head of Derby Street, at 3 p. m., where Miss Gar- ber will be hostess for the afternoon. Sunday, June I 5. Study of Aristolochia and visit to Arequipa Sanatorium. Take 9:15 a. m. Sausalito boat. Buy round trip to Fairfax. Six mile walk to Sanatorium and return by way of San Anselmo creek. Bring lunch. Leader, Mr. C. W. Carruth. THE ANNUAL DINNER. The dinner of March 8 may well be voted a great success. There were some sixty people gathered around the table at the Faculty Club to honor their well be- loved leader, Dr. W. L. Jepson. The evening was a particularly joyous one because of the refreshing charm and vigor of the honor guest. All present rejoiced to see that he had again returned to the land of strength. THE MENZIES GARDEN AT SAN RAFAEL. On April 6 the Society visited the Barberry garden of Mr. R. H. Menzies at San Rafael. There are some- thing over sixty species of the genus Berberis in the garden, a collection which is the result of many years’ gathering. Besides the Barberries the society was much interested in the borders of native California perennials. THE ANNUAL MEETING. We were sorry to lose the leadership of our honored president on April 12. Due to the pressure of work Prof. Kennedy felt that he could no longer guide us as he has so ably done for the past few years. To make us doubly sorry to lose such a leader, he introduced us that evening to the plants of Nevada. Specimens were laid out upon the tables for us to examine while Prof. Kennedy in his usual delightful manner told us of the state in which they were found. Officers elected for 1919-1920 are as follows: Presi- dent, Dr. W. L. Jepson; 1st Vice-president, Dr. W. S. Blasdale; 2nd Vice-president, Mr. A. L. Walker; Secre- tary-treasurer, Miss Anna E. Ehlers, 2613 Durant 11 Avenue (telephone Berkeley 3699) ; 1st Corresponding Secretary, Prof. C. B. Bradley, 2639 Durant Avenue, Berkeley; 2nd Corresponding Secretary, Miss Elizabeth H. Smith. All items for the “Nemophila.’ ’ should be sent to Miss Elizabeth V. E. Ferguson, No. 1 Mosswood Road, Berkeley (Tel. B. 4376), at least a week before it is to go to print. Madrono, the illustrated magazine of the Society, is for sale by the Secretary. Nos. 1 and 2, 50 cents each; No. 3, 25 cents. All members who are not in arrears for dues are sent the current issue free. The dues of the Society are only one dollar per year. Any one who is in sympathy with the objects of the Society may become a candidate for membership. If you are a member and do not receive the meeting notices it is because you are two years behind on dues. Send your dollar to the Secretary, Miss Ehlers. Field trips are not only for members, but for all interested in the native flora of California. Bring your friends with you for these trips. COLLECTION AND PREPARATION OF SPECIMENS OF FLOWERING PLANTS. In collecting material take the whole plant (including the root or underground organs) unless the plant is too large, in which case select representative parts. Place the specimen between a folded sheet, 11x16 inches when folded. Display the specimen as naturally as possible. It is well to throw in extra flowers or to dry them in a separate sheet. The fruit or pod should be taken when mature. If the plant is tall and slender, like a grass or reed, the whole plant may easily be in- cluded in a single sheet by folding once, or more than once in the form of N or M. If the plant is small the sheet should be filled with it. It is always desirable to have two or three sheets of a collection for purposes of comparison. The field press is a collecting frame or plant press 11x16 inches in size held by stout leather straps. In such a field press plants are placed at once. When the 12 wind is blowing, or elusive cyclonic currents are moving in a body of quiet air, it is something of an achievement in the open to keep the papers under control and put in one’s specimens with skill and a serene mind, A very large quantity of material may be gathered by this method on a day’s journey in the open. As soon as a specimen is placed in press the sheet is numbered and against a corresponding number in the field book is written the name of the plant, its degree of abundance, its associates, the soil, exposure, and altitude. Wordsworth aptly said that a few notes made on the spot are worth a cart-load of memory. This remark of a poet may well be remembered by the field botanist. Facts concerning the habit of the plant and its height, variation and other matters form an invaluable part of the field record. Upon returning from the field the sheets are placed between driers, blotters or newspapers and put under a board, with a weight, to dry. The folded sheets with their plants are left undisturbed but the driers should be changed twice a day the first two days, and after that once a day until dry. On placing the sheets be- tween the driers it is well the first day to open the sheets and correct the arrangement of the branches or spread out folded leaves or flowers. A weight of eight or ten pounds is usually sufficient. Care should be taken not to use too heavy a weight ; otherwise, delicate parts may be crushed or destroyed. The object is to get the water out of the plant as quickly as pos- sible. For this purpose corrugated paste-boards as driers are more recently coming into use and greatly facilitate drying. If properly cured, the systematist and even the histologist finds it possible to restore the organs to their original form or essentially so and pre- pare them for microscopic examination. Well prepared bright-looking specimens with ample data constitute an important record of the plant popu- lation of a district. If well mounted and cared for they are good for centuries. Such specimens when accom- panied by complete data are useful to the morphologist, physiologist, ecologist and plant geographer, and are of course an important part of the working equipment of the systematist.- — W. L. Jepson.