so THE MICHIGAN ACADEMY OP SCIENCE. 



A Fi:W WORDS CONCERNING THE NEW MICHIGAN FLORA. 



W. J. BEAL. 



The last edition by Beal and Wheeler was printed fn 1892. The edition 

 of which I now speak is in press and will form a portion of the fifth re- 

 port of the Michigan Academy of Science. The sequence of families 

 in former Michigan Floras followed Gray's Manual, which is essentially 

 that of Anguste Pyrame De Candolle. Most of the reasons given for 

 that arrangement have long since been considered nntenable. In the 

 present edition of the Michigan Flora, I have followed Britton's Manual 

 of the Flora of the Northern States and Canada, published in April, 1901. 

 In following Britton, I mean to say that I have adopted the nomenclature 

 there used, the sequence of families and genera. The sequence of families 

 is nearly the same as that of Engler and Prantl. I have arranged the 

 species of each genus in alphabetical order. In following the nomencla- 

 ture of Britton as found in the Manual, I do not by any means say that 

 I approve of all the innovations there made by Nash, Rydberg and others. 

 Some author must be followed and I have selected the one, all things 

 considered, that I believe to be best. 



The bibliography has been considerably extended. 



The species and varieties of Pteridophytes number 100 



The Gymnosperms 15 



The Monocotyledons 038 



The Dicotyledons 1474 



There are in Michigan so far as known species and varieties of trees 85 



Species and varieties of shrubs 209 



This edition of the flora enumerates species and varieties, all told. . 2227 



The former edition contained, species '. 1746 



Addition in the present edition 481 



Judging from the time I have devoted to this revision, and the mistakes 

 made, I am convinced that I Avas not very well suited to the work. The 

 preparation of the manuscript has been a great time consumer. The 

 nomenclature has been much changed; the arrangement has been turned 

 end for end and then shaken up liberally; lists of plants of ten other 

 botanists have been incorporated, and in one case, one person furnished 

 three or four separate lists. 



Professor C. A. Davis, in a recent letter, has well pointed out some 

 of the difficulties that the systematic botanist labors under in his at- 

 tempt to find the correct name to each species in our Flora. 



He writes, "This making a new edition of a Manual of Botany simply 

 that a lot of new names may be published every five years is certainly 

 most exasperating and wearing. We now have Sargent, Britton, Sud- 

 worth (for Bureau of Forestry people), and Gray, to say nothing of 

 Britton and Brown, and some of the names of our trees are different 



