PREFACE. v 



botanists all over the country, who have furnished specimens of plants 

 from their various localities with the greatest readiness. The author 

 must, for the present, content himself with this general expression 

 of his gratitude, as the list of names to be mentioned is altogether 

 too long for insertion in this place, and as due credit will be given 

 in the text in each individual case. But justice and gratitude both 

 demand that a special acknowledgment should be made, even here, of 

 the many favors received at the hands of the authorities of the Botanical 

 Garden at Cambridge. The unrivalled facilities of this institution have 

 been extended to the writer, and to all those associated with him in the 

 preparation of this work, with an unfailing courtesy, for which it seems 

 almost impossible to return adequate thanks in words. 



It only remains that the author should say a word in regard to his own 

 share in the undertaking. As already stated, the present work is not 

 exclusively botanical in its character, but is intended to be a contribution 

 to general intelligence. American botanists have done their task so well, 

 that there is scarcely room for even an illustrated work with botanical 

 aims alone. Indeed, but for the labors of Professor Gray, Professor 

 Wood, Dr. Chapman, Mr. Sereno Watson, and other botanists still living, 

 and of the many who have gone before, the work could not have been 

 undertaken at all. The author's task, therefore, has been chiefly to 

 point out the lessons which their labors teach. They have sown the 

 seed, — he shows how to gather the crop. He may not have told all 

 that might have been said ; but he believes enough has been brought 

 together to lend fresh interest to the even more than twice-told tale of 

 our native flowers. 



THOMAS MEEHAN. 



Germantown, Philadelphia, May, 1878. 



