"More information is packed into one volume that will be useful to a wider audience than any other manual of this kind yet published in the history of botany."--David L. Magney, The California Native Plant Society "A single work . . . simultaneously accessible to dedicated beginners and indispensable to professional botanists. . . . For the first time in one volume a user-friendly flora of the exceedingly diverse higher plants of California."--Mildred E. Mathias, editor of Flowering Plants in the Landscape "Allows amateurs and professionals alike to easily and accurately identify plant species. . . . A product that will contribute in a major way to the preservation of California's unique floral resource. Our gratitude and congratulations for a job well done."--Phyllis Faber, Editor, Fremontia "Sets new standards for excellence . . . and picks up beautifully on the contemporary idea that botanical work should be fully accessible to the general public as well as to scientists."--Peter H. Raven, Missouri Botanical Garden "Precise and accurate, a masterpiece of clarity and succinctness."--G. Ledyard Stebbins, University of California, Davis

A general model for a pension plan involving growth with respect to the population, salaries and retirement benefits is used to study contribution patterns that may arise under different actuarial cost methods. Detailed results are presented for the case where the growth of population and salaries are described by exponential functions. Economic implications are presented and discussed. (Author).