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Jepson Field Book Transcriptions · Jepson Herbarium

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40_48
Dorrington, Calaveras Co., 4800 ft.
person who uses a manual merely to find a name for his plant is getting very little; and he is more likely to be wrong in his efforts than if he used it critically and appreciatively instead of by guess work or hap-hazard method or lack of method. For the manual is a compendium, an organized seasoned account of the relationships and indication of phylogeny, in so far as we understand descent. It contains in concise form innumerable facts concerning structure, all of which give evidence of relationship, and notes of habit or lif-history which bear likewise on genetics and phylogeny. A botanical friend once tod me that I was not getting "credit" for my observations and experiments with the life-history of plants because cast in "flora" form. That is undoubtedly true but one need not worry about credit, any more than about the taking of my
40_49
Aug. 8, 1923
diagnoses by other authors. It is really a compliment; and when this is done by a capable man, an able man, then one is paid a very high compliment indeed. This is obviously so, for the judgement of such a man is not to be lightly taken, but to be highly regarded. It has become too customary to make local floras and other papers by copying species descriptions. That one's original work is taken in this way is of no moment. Indeed the compiler is not aware that the diagnosis is original. He suposes it has been copied and is copying in turn becuse it is convenient. The objection is that such work is slouchy or even degrading to systematic botany. The work of the systematist should rest on higher standards. Diagnoses should be constantly studied and improved in the light of new and ever new investigation.
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