OBSERVATIONS ON THE FLOWERING PLANTS, FERNS AND 

 FERN ALLIES GROWING WITHOUT CULTIVATION IX 

 TUSCOLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



The late Professor C. A. Davis, while engaged in geological work for 

 Tuscola County begun in 1897, made incidental observations on the 

 wild plants, and his report with an annotated list of plants was pul dished 

 in the Tenth Annual Report of the state geologist for the year 1908, 

 page 290, under title "The Native Vegetation of Tuscola County. 

 The Factors Affecting Plant Distribution." This was merely the 

 latter part of his valuable report on "The Geology of Tuscola County, 

 Michigan/' published in the same report, page 121. The part of the 

 report on plants was timely and very valuable, for about that time the 

 northern part of the county, where the plant observations were mostly 

 made, was rapidly undergoing a radical change brought about by drain- 

 age and preparation for sugar beet culture. Long before the publicat i< m 

 of his ecological observations and plant list, Professor Davis urged the 

 writer to complete, so far as possible, the plant list of the county, make 

 a separate report, incorporating his list or so much of it as should seem 

 best. Accordingly in 1910 the work was taken up as an independent 

 effort and the county investigated as well as might be. The Saginaw 

 Bay shore was traversed and examined from the west line of Huron 

 County to the east line of Bay County, nearly eve^ small lake visited, 

 its shores and adjacent marshes and swamps examined and the morainal 

 hills looked over as carefully as time would permit, not forgetting swamps 

 yet untouched by destructive fires, the marshes and prairie-like land 

 and the so called islands in the northern part. Professor Davis rep >r1 1 < 1 

 591 species, a remarkably large number considering that this pari of 

 his effort was merely incidental to matters considered at the time of far 

 greater economic importance. After much careful search the numl 

 of species noticed did not quite reach 1,000, but it is believed thai from 

 1,100 to 1,200 species of wild plants still exist within the limits of Tus- 

 cola County, which will be found and yet recorded if local botanis 

 make a careful search. 



It is not intended or believed that this effort shall or can take the 

 place of Professor Davis' report which will ever stand out prominent ly s 

 a work very clearly and fully representing the surface condition- of the 

 land and ecological relations of plant species at the time. 



