John J. Keetch US Forest Service Collection
M2018.06
Table of Contents
- Summary Information
- Scope and Contents
- Administrative Information
- Collection Inventory
- Box 1: Fire Danger Materials & Personal Documents
- Box 2: Fire Data, Keetch's Class Notes & Publications, and Forestry Documents
- Box 3: Fire Severity Calculations, Prescribed Burning, and Other Documents
- Box 4: Fire Danger Documentation
- Box 5: Taxonomy of Trees and Silviculture
- Box 6: Tree Identification and Diseases
- Box 7: Wood Samples
- Box 8: Fire Danger Station Network
- Box 9: Realia and Oversize
- Box 10: Diaries
- Box 11: Tree Species Notes
Summary Information
- Repository
- UNC Asheville Special Collections and University Archives
- Title
- John J. Keetch US Forest Service Collection
- ID
- M2018.06
- Date [inclusive]
- 1904-1999
- Extent
- 5.6 Linear feet ; 10 boxes
- Physical Description
- Contains handwritten notes and calculations, correspondence and other documentation, printed materials, and realia
- Location
- Located in Special Collections, Row 4, Section 2
- Language
- English
Preferred Citation
John J. Keetch US Forest Service Collection, D.H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville 28804
Scope and Contents
Contains documents and items written or collected by John J. Keetch and related to his work with the U.S. Forest Service. In 1968, Keetch and George M. Byram published, "A Drought Index for Forest Fire Control", an index to calculate the fire danger in forests, and most of the materials in this collection reflect Keetch's long interest in fire danger, and calculating its risk. Included are Keetch's notes and calculations, some dating back his time as a forestry school student, along with published charts and materials on silviculture, and physical items used to calculated fire risk. The exception to this scope is a paper on pollution in the French Broad River, thought to have been written by Keetch's daughter Mary when she was a high school student.
Administrative Information
Publication Information
UNC Asheville Special Collections and University Archives
Ramsey Library, CPO # 1500One University Heights
Asheville, North Carolina, 28804-8504
828.251.6645
speccoll@unca.edu
Rights
No restrictions. Any display, publication, or public use must credit the D.H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville. Copyright retained by the creators of certain items in the collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Creator
John J. Keetch ; Mary Keetch
Processing Note
Processed by Gene Hyde and Colin Reeve, February 2019
Collection Inventory
Box 1: Fire Danger Materials & Personal Documents |
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Folder 1: Fire Danger Rating Documentation |
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Outline for talk by J.J. Keetch at Fire Training School, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, February 28, 1961. "The Development of a National Fire Danger Rating System" |
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Fire Danger Rating Principles and Practice, lecture outline, Woods Hole, MA, 1961 |
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Draft: Developments in Forest Fire Danger Rating, J.J. Keetch, 11-5-64 |
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R-7 Fire Control Training Handbook, October 6, 1958 |
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Reports and documents related to fire suppression, rating, and dame |
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Folder 2: Keetch - Personal - Fire Control Work Plans, 1969-72 |
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Folder 3: Personal documents related to John J. Keetch's employment in the Forest Service and his US Citizenship, 1932-65 |
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Folder 4: "Development of the National Fire-Danger Rating System: Basic Structure Spread Phase," by John. J. Keetch, forester (Fire Control), August 1965 (Spiral Bound USFS Report. 82 pages with appendices. |
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Folder 5: Documents related to the "rate of spread" of fire |
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Folder 6: Fire Danger Charts |
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Folder 7: Dryness Index Data |
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Folder 8: The Northeastern Logger, Vol. 2, No. 9, May 1954. "Forest Fire Prevention" issue. Includes article by Keetch |
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Folder 9: "History of Forest Fire Danger Measurement in the United States," by Keetch. Outline and chapter/essay draft |
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Box 2: Fire Data, Keetch's Class Notes & Publications, and Forestry Documents |
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Folder 1: Forest Service Info, Class of 1938. Includes roster of Class of 1938, "Songs the Forester Sings" book, and unidentified photo of a field with cut timber |
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Folder 2: Keetch publications |
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"Smoker Fires," in Conservation, Jan-Feb 1942 |
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"Forest Fire Damage Appraisal Procedures and Tables for the Northeast," by Lindenmuth, Keetch, and Nelson, USFS Station Paper No. 11, September 1951 |
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"Open Method for Measuring Fire Danger in Hardwood Forests," by Lindenmuth and Keetch,USFS Technical Note No. 71, March 1946 |
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"Correlation of Plant Moisture in Hawaii with the Keetch-Byram Drought Index," by Robert E. Burgan, USDA Forest Service Research Note PSW-307, 1976 |
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"Smoker Fires and Fire Brands" USFS Technical Note 49, December 1941 (2 copies) |
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"A Method for Appraising Forest-Fire Damage in Southern Appalachian Mountain Types," by Jemison and Keetch, Fire Control Notes, April 1941 |
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'Sprout Development on Once-Burned and Repeatedly Burned Areas in the Southern Appalachians" USFS Technical Note No. 59, July 1944 |
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"Fire Frequency as a Measure of Fire Prevention Accomplishments," Keetch and Lidenmuth, Research Notes No. 37, July 1953, USFS Southeastern Forest Experiment Station |
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"Instructions for using Forest Fire Danger Meter Type 8" USFS Station Paper No. 33, 1954 |
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"Schematics of Problem Solving" |
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Folder 3: "General Forestry" class notes, 1933 |
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Folder 4: USFS memos and reports on fire danger and fire control, 1928-61, plus 3 booklets on climate and weather |
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Folder 5: Unified fire danger system documents, 1943-60, plus Forest Fire Research Bibliography, 1933-59 |
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Folder 6: Barrier width equation documentations |
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Folder 7: Keetch letter outlining his "approach to a history of fire danger rating" in the US, with supporting documentation. 1977 |
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Folder 8: USGS Land Use Data Program |
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Folder 9: Sequoia Fire Data |
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Folder 10: Six Rivers Fire Data |
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Folder 11: San Bernardino Fire Data |
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Folder 12: Assorted correspondence and statistical data |
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Folder 13: Humidity, wet-bulb, and dry-bulb studies and data |
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Box 3: Fire Severity Calculations, Prescribed Burning, and Other Documents |
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Folder 1: Fire Severity Calculations, Part 1 |
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Folder 2: Fire Severity Calculations, Part 2 |
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Folder 3: "Climatological Summary for the Priest River Forest Experimental Station, 1912 - 1931" |
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Folder 4: Forest Service Handbook, Table 655, 1964 |
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Folder 5: Glossary of Terms |
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Used in Forest Fire Control, USDA Agricultural Handbook No. 104, 1956 |
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Forest Fire Control Terns, National Research Council, Ottawa, 1963 |
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Used in Fire Weather Discussion, US Department of the interior, 1965 |
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For Use as a Training Aid with National Forest Fire Behavior Courses, USDA, 1966 |
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Folder 6: Prescribed Burning |
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Wind Directions for Prescribed Burning in the Southeastern US, Station Paper No. 131, 1961 |
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Some Effects of Prescribed Burning on Coastal Plain Forest Soil, Station paper No. 133, 1961 |
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Prescribed Burning for Understory Control in Loblolly Pine Stands of the Coastal Plain, Station Paper No. 116, 1960 |
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Folder 7: Lists of Publications |
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Publications of the Southeaster Forest Experimental Station, 1959-1963, 1965 |
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Presuppression Publications, 1941-1967, (compiled by John Keetch) |
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Folder 8: Psychrometric Tables, US Department of Commerce, 1941 |
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Folder 9: Project Fire Model, Summary Progress report - II, 1960-1962, USDA |
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Folder 10: John Keetch Position Description and Personnel Materials |
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Box 4: Fire Danger Documentation |
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Folder 1: History of Forestry & Fire Danger Ratings |
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Folder 2: Work Plans, (1958-1970) |
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Folder 3: Forest Service Organization Directory, 1972 |
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Folder 4: "Elementary Forest Sampling", Agriculture Handbook No. 232, 1962 |
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Folder 5: "Average Daily Maximum Temperature in the US, 1916-1935" |
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Folder 6: Fire-Danger & Fire-Weather Seminars, 1972 |
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Box 5: Taxonomy of Trees and Silviculture |
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Folder 1: Regional Silviculture, Keetch's Notes on, (1931) |
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Folder 2: "Conventional Signs for Forest Maps" |
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Folder 3: "Southern Forestry Smoke Management Guidebook", USDA, 1976 |
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Folder 4: Forest Fire Research, (1950s & 1960s) |
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Folder 5: "The Dendrology of the More Important Trees of the US, Part 1, Hardwoods", (1934) |
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Folder 6: "Carolina Trees", Club Series No.80, 1954 |
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Folder 7: Taxonomy |
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Folder 8: Silviculture 1, Foundations of Silviculture, Lecture Notes, 1935 |
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Folder 9: "History Line", 1975 & 1999 [2 issues] |
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Folder 10: Pollution in the French Broad River (by Mary Keetch) |
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Folder 11: Bibliography (index cards), (1900- 1979) |
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Box 6: Tree Identification and Diseases |
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Folder 1: Common Trees by State |
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Forest Trees of Kentucky |
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Forest Trees of Maine |
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Trees and Shrubs of New Hampshire |
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Shrubs and Woody Vines of North Carolina |
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Forest Trees on North Carolina |
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Forest Trees of Virginia |
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Forest Trees of West Virginia |
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Forest Trees and Forest Regions of the US |
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Folder 2: "Sixty Trees from Foreign Lands" Agriculture Handbook No. 212, USDA, 1961 |
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Folder 3: "Endangered Rare and Uncommon Wildflowers Found in the Southern Forests", USDA, 1970 |
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Folder 4: Tree Diseases & Deficiencies Bulletins |
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"Tree Diseases of Eastern Forests and Farm Woodlands", Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 254, USDA, 1962 |
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"Deficiency Symptoms of Some Forest Trees", Research Bulletin 1015, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, 1969 |
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Folder 5: "Schlich's Manual of Forestry, Vol. II, Sylviculture", W S Schlich, 1904 |
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Folder 6: Two notebooks (of Keetch) |
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Folder 7: List of Species in the Wood Collection [Box 7] |
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Folder 8: Notes about trees & and shrubs, handwritten on 42 pieces of paper 4.25" x 2.75" |
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Box 7: Wood Samples |
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Small wood blocks numbered 1 through 70, although some numbers are missing, and some are duplicated, of different timber types. Listing of samples is in Box 6, Folder 7 |
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Box 8: Fire Danger Station Network |
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Card index of the Fire Danger Station network cooperating with the Eastern Defense Command. Cards are arranged by state and describe the station location, and contact information for observer and forester/warden |
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Box 9: Realia and Oversize |
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"Forester's Review Book 1937", |
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"A Forest Atlas of the Northeast", Howard W Lull, USDA, 1968 |
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Fire risk calculations and charts for Redbird Unit, Kentucky, (1953) |
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Fire Control Notebook, California Region, US Forest Service, 1949 |
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Region 7 National Forest Dispatcher's Initial Attack Strength Calculator |
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Longleaf-Slash Pine Fire-Danger Meter, USDA, 1939 [2 meters included] |
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Slide to a calculation computer (other parts missing) |
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Homemade fire danger calculator, comprising four strips of paper glued to wood base, 7.25" x 4" overall |
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Psychrometric computer, plastic, 11" diameter |
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Box 10: Diaries |
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Personal diaries of John Keetch, 1939-1973 [1954 is missing], describing Keetch's personal and professional daily activities. Amount of detail varies by year |
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Box 11: Tree Species Notes |
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Handwritten notes and leaf prints describing tree species. Author and when or why they were written are unknown. |
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Aceraceae |
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Anacardiaceae |
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Araliaceae |
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Berberidaceae |
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Betulaceae |
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Bignoniaceae |
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Caprifoliaceae |
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Celastraceae |
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Cornaceae |
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Ericaeae |
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Fagaceae |
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Ginkgoaceae |
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Hamamelidaceae |
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Hippocastanaceae |
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Juglandaceae |
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Lauraceae |
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Leguminosae |
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Magnoliaceae |
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Moraceae |
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Myricaceae |
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Nyssaceae |
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Oleaceae |
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Pinaceae |
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Platanaceae |
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Ranunculaceae |
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Rhamnaceae |
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Rosaceae |
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Rubiaceae |
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Rutaceae |
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Salicaceae |
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Saxifragaceae |
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Simaroubaceae |
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Solanaceae |
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Staphyleaceae |
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Styracaceae |
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Taxaceae |
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Tiliaceae |
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Ulmaceae |
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Vitaceae |
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