INTRODUCTION. 



I have aimed to include in this publication all of the tiower- 

 ing plants and higher cryptogams, so far as observed, which grow 

 without cultivation within sixteen and one fourth townships, an 

 area of 585 square miles. This territory includes the City of 

 Grand Rapids as a center with its two tiers of surrounding town- 

 ships. 



Students of Botany in the Grand Rapids High School, former 

 teachers of the subject here, and several local collectors, have 

 supplemented my own personal efforts in furnishing the informa- 

 tion which it contains. 



This catalogue, like all pioneer work in this line, must necessar- 

 ily prove incomplete. Even in so small a district as this, there 

 will be some unobserved places worthy of careful investigation. 

 It is hoped, however, that it will contribute something to the bet- 

 ter knowledge of our flora. 



The work has been done with care as to local distribution, 

 abundance, and constancy of the species mentioned. Attention 

 has also been given to any habits, or morphological variations, in 

 those plants which have their natural geographical limits in the 

 State, and which come within, or near, the range of this district. 



Care has been taken that no plant should appear in the catalogue 

 without being represented by a specimen in the herbarium re- 

 ferred to, and with sufficient data to warrant its acceptance.* All 

 notes or statements quoted from other sources have been carefully 

 verified. 



*The few exceptions are speciHed. 



