Applied Botany and Plant Pathology 



J. CEDRIC CARTER 



V\/'HEN the Illinois Natural History edible fruits, common tea, and medicine, 



^ ^ Society was organized in 1858 to those known to be poisonous, and those 



promote the advancement of science in the known to be troublesome weeds. The year 



state, botany was a major field of interest 

 of several of its founders. 



The earliest reported botanical research 

 in Illinois was the study of flora in south- 

 ern Illinois by Andre Michaux (Sargent 

 1889), a distinguished botanist of France. 

 In 1795 Michaux traveled from the Ohio 

 River up the Wabash River to Vincennes, 

 Indiana. He crossed Illinois to Kaskaskia, 

 August 23-30, to Prairie du Rocher, Sep- 

 tember 5-6, and returned to Kaskaskia, 

 September 8-9. On October 2, he started 

 toward the Ohio Kiver and arrived at 

 Fort Massac on October 8. Later he re- 

 turned to Kaskaskia, Fort Chartres, and 

 Prairie du Rocher and started on his re- 

 turn from southern Illinois on December 

 14. 



Following Michaux and during the 

 first half of the nineteenth century, many 

 physicians and amateur botanists studied 

 and reported on the flora of Illinois. Dr. 

 Lewis C. Beck (1826r/, 1826/v, 1828), 

 in publishing his contributions to the bot- 

 any of both Illinois and Missouri, listed 

 65 plants in the prairies near St. Louis 

 and 14 in barrens. Also, he reported on 

 his studies of plants along the Illinois 

 River bluffs near St. Louis. A catalog of 

 plants collected in Illinois by Charles A. 

 Geyer was published with critical remarks 

 bv Dr. George Engelmann (1843) of St. 

 Louis, Missouri. Dr. C. W. Short (1845) 

 of Louisville, Kentucky, reported on his 

 observations and collections of the flora 

 of prairies of Illinois as a result of his 

 extensive travels in several sections of the 

 state. Dr. S. B. Mead (1846) prepared 

 a catalog of plants growing in Illinois, 

 most of them growing near Augusta in 

 Hancock County; this work was pub- 

 lished in the Prairie Farmer. Dr. Mead 

 mentioned the habitats of the plants he 

 included in his catalog. Also, he listed the 

 uses of the plants, including those used 

 by dyers and coopers, those used for 

 hedges, chair bottoms, hay, ornamentals. 



before the Illinois Natural History So- 

 ciety was founded, I. A. Lapham (1857fl) 

 published a catalog of the plants of Illi- 

 nois; his catalog included lists con- 

 tributed by Mead and Engelmann. In pre- 

 paring the catalog, Lapham examined the 

 extensive collections of plants made by 

 Robert Kennicott, Emile Claussen, anil 

 others. 



Mead's list, as mentioned above, com- 

 prised plants principally in the vicinity of 

 Augusta in Hancock County. Engel- 

 mann's list comprised plants in southern 

 Illinois, especiall\- in the vicinity across 

 the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Mis- 

 souri. Dr. Mead, Lapham (1857«:494) 

 wrote, "has probably devoted more time 

 and labor to the examination of Illinois 

 plants than any other botanist, and his 

 collections now form part of most of the 

 principal herbaria of the world." 



Lapham emphasized that catalogs of 

 plants were useful to farmers, physicians, 

 horticulturists, botanists, cabinet makers, 

 wheelwrights, and other workers in wood 

 because these catalogs listed plants of in- 

 terest to each group ; his catalog listed 

 1,104 species representing 111 orders of 

 plants. From a geographical point of 

 view, Lapham divided Illinois into three 

 districts : ( 1 ) the heavily timbered tracts, 

 mainly in the southern portion of the 

 state, and the "groves" or detached bodies 

 of timber surrounded by prairies, in the 

 middle and northern portions of the state; 



(2) the open prairie tracts of 1 to 20 

 miles in diameter and destitute of trees; 



(3) the tracts of "barrens," intermediate 

 between the prairie tracts and the tim- 

 bered tracts. The barrens appeared to be 

 in transition from open prairies to densely 

 timbered tracts. They were sparsely cov- 

 ered with several species of oak trees and 

 with dense undergrowth of shrubs and 

 annuals. 



Treatises on plant material, published 

 in the Illinois State Agricultural Societv 



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