FOREWORD 



tit sea, where the means of introduction of new seeds are 

 limited and the wind and soil conditions unusual. More- 

 over, flowers grow here like the Scotch Heathers (Calluna 

 vulgar is and Ericas) that have been reported from few, 

 if any, other parts of the United States, and the Centaury 

 (Centaurium spicatwu), not found between Nantucket and 

 Portsmouth, Virginia, the presence of which on Nantuoket 

 suggests geological possibilities. 



Local interests like these are not confined to the pro- 

 fessional botanist, therefore this book has been written 

 to describe, with all possible accuracy and few technicali- 

 ties, the representative trees and flowers. A full and in- 

 valuable technical list has already been published by Mr. 

 Eugene P. Bicknell of New York. To have described in 

 detail all the trees and plants listed by Mr. Bicknell, 

 would have resulted in the volume's being of such bulk 

 that one of the cardinal purposes, the unacademic, would 

 have been defeated. The book would also have increased 

 in size without gain in value for our purpose if we had 

 included such plant life as the club mosses and the grasses. 

 For these reasons we have chosen three hundred species, 

 and have started with the Pine Tree Family. We have in- 

 cluded the typical trees and maritime plants; also many 

 plants which are not peculiar to seashore environment, but 

 which on Nantucket grow very profusely; and some intro- 

 duced weeds, which, if precaution is not taken against their 

 spread, may, in time, prove to be a curse on Nantucket 

 as they have elsewhere. We have added a few plants of 

 unusual scientific interest. 



The illustrations are from Nantucket flowers, showing, 

 whenever possible, the variability of these island forms, 

 as, for example, the bowed carriage of the Bush Clover 

 (Lespedeza) which holds itself erect elsewhere. The 

 flowers have been drawn their actual size. The scale, 

 representing in every case one inch, will show which have 

 been reduced in printing. 



The illustrator has learned in this work that no in- 

 dividual flower is a final definition of the species, the 



viii 



