HOFFMANN: FLORA OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY. 179 



failed to find. Everyone knows how hard it is to find rarities when 

 everything is unfamiHar. It is not to Dewey's discretUt, that a keen 

 collector like Mr. Frank Walters added Arisaema Dracontium, Cimi- 

 cifvga racemosa and Dentaria laciniata to the County-list in Dewey's 

 own town. The great majority of species and varieties in the present 

 list which were not contained in Dewey's list, are plants now recog- 

 nized as distinct which had not in his day been separated from closely 

 related species. There are also a number of introduced species, like 

 Rudbeckia hirta, which have made their way into the County during 

 the last one hundred years. Anyone who studies Dewey's list, keep- 

 ing in mind the state of botanical knowledge in his day, ^vdll entertain 

 a great respect for his energy and acuteness. 



Dewey's chief interest in botany early became the genus Carex. 

 He began to contribute studies of this genus to the American Journal 

 of Science and Arts in 1824 and continued till 1866, the year before his 

 death. 



The following species were named either by him or by his corre- 

 spondents from material collected in Berkshire County. 



Carex formosa Dewey from Stockbridge. 



Carex novae-angliae Schwein. from Saddle Mt. (Greylock). 



Carex scabrata Schwein. from Berkshire County. 



Carex longirostris Torr. from Sheffield. 



Carex Davisii Schwein. and Torr. from Sheffield. 



Carex Hitchcockiann Dewey from Saddle Mt. 



Carex Tuckermani Dewey from Sheffield. 



Carex Schweinitzii Dewey from Williamstown. 



Carex setacea Dewey from Williamstown. 



In 1840 Dewey was commissioned by the Go\ernor of the State to 

 prepare a report on the flowering plants of Massachusetts, a compan- 

 ion to Emerson's classic report on the trees and shrubs. There are a 

 number of references in this report to Berkshire County, some of which 

 are interesting enough to quote, as throwing light on the history of 

 its flora during the last century. Of the Sweetbrier (Rosa rubiginosa) 

 he says, p. 55, " Its perfectly wild state in the fields and along hedges 

 in the north part of Berkshire County has led me to doubt its importa- 

 tion into that part of the state." Of the Shrubby Cinquefoil {Potcn- 

 tilla Jruticosa), which is now a pest in moist pastures, he only says, 

 p. 57, it "grows on the margin of ponds in marshy situations and on 

 cold u[)hind tracts." Dewey did not seem to know Vicia Cracca from 



