INTRODUCTION. 7 



the month of May. Others of the Genera Gen- 

 tiana, Kuhnia., Ecllpta, Spiranthcs^ Aster, 

 iS»oZ/<Zfir^o, with many radiate Genera, are quite 

 late and autumnal, found chiefly in October : 

 therefore they had escaped the notice of our 

 Botanists, who chiefly botanize or travel in 

 summer. 



Other plants are confined to Mountains, or 

 Pinelands, or Western Glades, or deep 

 Swamps, which must be visited by turns, if 

 we wish to collect them. I have sometimes 

 looked in vain for years for some particular 

 plants^ at the very places where they are known 

 to grow, because I was not in the due season : 

 this happens to all Botanists, and it is very im- 

 portant for collectors to know the precise epoch 

 of blooming and seeding. What escapes one 

 of them may be met by another a little earlier 

 or later. There are besides years when some 

 plants bloom more abundantly, and others like 

 the Miegia, Enslenia, Slc. only bloom once in 

 many years. 



I came to North America in 1802, and tra- 

 velled chiefly on foot until 180 1, over New Jer- 

 sey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and 

 Virginia, from the Juniata to the Sea Shore, 

 and from the Alleghany Mountains beyond 

 Easton, to the Potomac beyond Washington 

 and Alexandria. Some of the results of my 

 discoveries in those three yearsof early travels 

 were published in 1808. 



In 1805 I left America for Europe, where 1 

 remained till 1815. On my return to this con- 

 tinent in that year, 1 was shipwrecked on the 

 shores of Connecticut, and lost all my former 

 Herbals and collections, both American and 

 European. 



