A Treatise on the North American Ranunculi
Benson L. 1948. A Treatise on the North American Ranunculi. The American Midland Naturalist. 40(1):1-261
The most important landmark in the study of Ranunculus in North America is Asa Gray's thorough and consistent Revision of the North American Ranunculi (Gray, 1886).It is remarkable that in the "eighties" Gray was able to analyze many of the populations of Ranunculus, particularly those of some of the western species, with a considerable degree of accuracy. At that time the scarcely known Alaskan Peninsula was still spoken of with contempt as "Seward's Icebox",British Columbia and Alberta were almost untraversed, and the three organized Western States* and the adjacent territories were largely unexplored. Colleges and universities were just beginning to appear in the Far West, and resident collectors were few. Gray's specimens from the Rocky Mountains and westward were collected by botanists and physicians accompanying surveying and exploring parties. Plants from even the eastern United States and Canada were known only from scattering localities in proximity to the few institutions engaged in taxonomic research and to the homes of private collectors.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Benson, Lyman
- Units
- KLGO , SODN
- Keywords
- Botany (Systematics Floras Monographs), North America, Plant Communities, Plant Studies