(Note: No abstract is included this large article, which itself is essentially a book. Below is an excerpt from the "Plan of the Work" section from page 10.)

The purpose of this book is threefold:

(1) to provide a means for identifying. every plant species known (as of the time of preparation of this account), in the major groups of vascular plants, to occur in Guam; in particular, the indigenous and widespread naturalized species, though cultivated plants, both crops and ornamentals, are also included.

(2) To provide for students (especially high school seniors and University students) a text providing, by example, an introduction to taxonomic botany, and by extension to such fields as ecology; and to provide a handbook for biology teachers, agricultural or forestry officers, government agents who must deal with plants or with land use and vegetation, and for tourists, hikers, and interested islanders who require knowledge of Guam's flora;

(3) To provide botanists and other scholars in other countries a modern account of what is known of the flora of this American Territory.

The book consists of two divisions. The first is a basic orientation, with brief geographic, geological, meteorological, phytosociological, and phytogeographic sections. The second consists of a descriptive, frequently illustrated, manual of the vascular plants, with keys.