Flora of Delaware and the Eastern Shore 



the general herbarium of the Academy of Natural Sciences and of 

 the herbarium of the Philadelphia Botanical Club, together num- 

 bering more than 650,000 sheets, were checked for specimens from 

 the Peninsula. The herbaria of the University of Pennsylvania, 

 the University of Delaware, the latter containing many plants 

 from the collections of Professors C. O. and F. C. Houghton, 

 Captain H. H. Hanson, H. R. Baker, and others, and the Canby 

 and Tatnall herbaria of the Society of Natural History of Delaware, 

 were also canvassed. Through the kindness of Dr. E. H. Walker 

 and Mrs. Bertha B. Lambert, a number of records of Peninsula 

 plants in the U. S. National Herbarium were sent me, a courtesy 

 which is much appreciated. 



It is a matter of regret that the original herbaria of W. M. 

 Canby and E. Tatnall are not readily available. However, it is 

 doubtful whether they would have added much to the information 

 obtained from other sources. Edward Tatnall's collecting in our 

 area was practically limited to New Castle County, and his manu- 

 script catalog, mentioned above, shows that his herbarium would 

 probably have added no species to those otherwise known to grow 

 here. Canby's Peninsula trips were limited, except in the immedi- 

 ate vicinity of Wilmington, to some half-dozen localities accessible 

 by rail, and from which exploration of the surrounding country 

 could be made by means of "horse-and-buggy." These same 

 localities are represented in his more recent collections for the 

 Society's herbarium, so that we probably have nearly all of his 

 local species here in Wilmington, 



Active collecting on the Peninsula by the writer began in 1928, 

 and continued until 1941, when restrictions on travel prevented 

 any further long trips by automobile. All of the fourteen counties 

 have been visited several times, and most of them many times. 

 From these trips a herbarium of over 4800 sheets of plants of the 

 Peninsula has resulted. 



The Card Catalog. The plant records from all of the above 

 sources have been entered on cards — one card (or more as needed) — 

 to a species. Each entry shows the county in which the specimen 

 was collected, the locality, name of collector, and date. A system 

 of check-marks indicates in what herbaria the specimens have been 

 deposited. On the back of each card is an outline map, on which 

 the records are indicated by dots, so that the known distribution 

 of each species on the Peninsula may be seen at a glance. 



XX 



