GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE PLAN OF THE 

 CATALOGUE OF PLANTS. 



I. The names of plants supposed to be indigenous to North 

 America are printed in heavy broad-face type. " Indigenous " 

 is but a relative term, and can hardly be employed with any 

 accuracy, even in its commonly accepted sense, in connection 

 with the flora of a comparatively small territory, without a 

 very definite knowledge of the facts of local plant introduction 

 and distribution. A list of Mount Desert plants pretending 

 to show the plants "indigenous" to the Island would contain 

 mere guesswork in many cases, and would only lead to much 

 confusion. It has therefore been thought better to draw the 

 distinction between plants indigenous to the continent and 

 those evidently foreign to it, and to add such notes as may 

 seem of value relating to the introduction within our territorial 

 limits, on the one hand, of North American species, and, on the 

 other, of species from other continents. 



II. The names of plants believed to be introduced into 

 North America are printed in small capitals. It is to be 

 understood that in nearly every case such plants have been, 

 so far as known, indirectly introduced through other parts 

 of this continent into Mount Desert Island. There is very 

 little of that evidence of direct introduction of any of these 

 plants which is so common about seaports where there is 

 direct communication with foreign countries. This class of 

 plants includes both those that are fully naturalized and those 

 which as yet are only adventive or well established garden 

 escapes. For reasons already given, it will be seen that there 

 are no ballast plants to be catalogued. 



