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first Flora of Essex County . It was the most complete 

 catalog of plants growing in the area yet to be published, 

 as well as one of the first local floras of New England. It 

 proved particularly important in documenting the occurrence 

 of the plants in specific localities throughout the county. 

 Although by no means complete, specific reference was made 

 to the plants growing on Plum Island. Also during this 

 period, Edward Moulton (1891) published thirty-two articles 

 in the Daily Standard , a Newburyport newspaper, on the flora 

 of the vicinity, which included some plants growing on Plum 

 Island. 



Between 1900 and 1950 the most active botanists on the 

 island were Arthur Stanley Pease, Harold St. John, and 

 Donald White. From extant specimens, the species list for 

 the island at that time included approximately 108 taxa. In 

 1942 a list of the more common plant species occurring in 

 the proposed Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, which 

 included the southern portion of the island, was developed 

 (Gashwiler, 1942). Another partial list of plants growing 

 on the Refuge portion of the island was developed by Waldo 

 Kennedy (1950) but, like the previous list, it is difficult 

 to verify the existence of the species since no voucher 

 specimens could be found. 



It was not until 1956 that any concerted effort was 

 made to document the flora of the island. It appears that 

 Stuart K. Harris, while working on a modern flora of Essex 

 County, noticed the absence of specimens from Plum Island in 

 herbaria. In 1956 alone, he collected over 190 different 

 taxa on the island. In 1957 he again collected heavily on 

 the island, this time accompanied by Frank McGregor and 

 Charles Schweinf urth. When his Flora of Essex County was 

 finally published posthumously in 1975, it referenced 320 

 taxa as occurring on Plum Island. 



During the 1960's and early 1970's a number of lists of 

 the plants growing in the Refuge portion of the island were 

 compiled by refuge personnel, student assistants, and 

 botanists (PRNWR records) . One of the more complete lists 

 was compiled by Diana Seacord (1967) for a Senior Honors 

 Thesis. She combined lists compiled by Harris (PRNWR 

 records) and Kennedy (1950) along with her own collections. 

 This list contains many dubious records which seem very 

 unlikely to occur on the island, but their occurrence cannot 

 be verified for her voucher specimens have not been located. 



