Editor: Leslie R. Landrum
P. O. Box 874501
School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-4501
les.landrum@asu.edu


Production Editor/Webmaster: Shannon C. Doan
College of Letters and Sciences
Arizona State University - Polytechnic Campus
7001 E. Williams Field Road
Mail Code 2780
Mesa, AZ 85212-2780
sdoan@asu.edu

     In recent years the Internet has revolutionized communication in the same way that the printing press did a few hundred years ago. Information can be disseminated rapidly and inexpensively via the Internet and can potentially reach a vast audience. Several societies now offer electronic and printed copies of their publications. As long as printed copies are deposited in several libraries, then there is a great advantage in this means of publication. First it is inexpensive. Second it requires less work to disseminate because copies can be sent as attachments to e-mail or can be posted on the web. And third, it allows for color illustrations at no significant extra cost. Those of us working on the Vascular Plants of Arizona project see the advantage of this approach to publication. We want our work to be as widely available as possible.

     Since 1992 we have had a collaborative working relationship with the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science and seven issues of the Journal of that organization have been published devoted to the Vascular Plants of Arizona. We are extremely grateful to the Academy for its support. We think we now can produce our own journal entirely devoted to botanical matters, and especially the Vascular Plants of Arizona project. Other contributions will be welcome, for instance, notes on species new to Arizona, checklists, and local floras. We expect to print a minimum of 30 copies to be deposited at local, national and international libraries. For the time being electronic copies will be available free of charge and can be used to print one's own hard copy. The Arizona Native Plant Society continues to provided financial support for printed copies of issues that include contributions to the Vascular Plants of Arizona project [e.g., Vol. 1(1), Vol. 2(1), Vol. 3(2), Vol. 4(2)].