INTRODUCTION, 



The first Michigan Flora entitled a "Catalogue of the Phaenogamous and 

 Vascular Cryptogamous Plants of Michigan, Indigenous, Naturalized 

 and Adentive," was prepared by Charles F. Wheeler and Erwin F. Smith, 

 and was printed in the report of the Michigan State Horticultural Society 

 for 1880. 



The second Michigan Flora, based on the first, was prepared by W. J. 

 Beal and C. F. Wheeler and was printed in the report of the Michigan 

 State Board of Agriculture for 1892. Of the second Michigan Flora one 

 thousand separates were printed, for distribution and the supply was 

 exhausted in less than five years. 



The copies of all the former edition of this Flora were distributed 

 chiefly among botanists of all grades from Professors in Universities 

 and Colleges, Normal Schools, teachers in High Schools, Academies and 

 among amateurs. It is believed that this edition notwithstanding all its 

 defects, will encourage many to study the wild plants of Michigan not 

 forgetting the arrivals from other countries. Besides assisting the 

 student in becoming familiar with names of species and their distribu- 

 tion, it should be useful in other respects. 



Within the past few years a delightful department of botany has 

 attracted much attention. It is emphatically outdoor work and is known 

 as Ecology or the relations of plants to their environment. 



This Flora may help the student in his investigations of plant groups 

 or plant associations, noting those peculiar to certain kinds of soil, and 

 others growing almost everywhere. It will aid in listing natives and 

 exotics. Students can make many lists, such as those forming rosettes, 

 those that climb, those that thrive in the woods in early spring, those 

 that grow in strata or layers above each other or in zones within and 

 without each other. It should aid in the study of plant dispersal by all 

 sorts of methods and in the multitude of ways by which plants protect 

 themselves. 



The following is a list of the chapters found in the last edition of the 

 Flora that are omitted in this edition : 



Planting the Roadside and about the Home. 

 Planting a Grove. 

 Planting a Wild Garden. 

 Autumn Foliage. 



Native Tr^es and Shrubs selected for the Color of their Leaves in Autumn. 

 Native small Trees and Shrubs distinguished for their Flowers. 

 Native Shrubs or Trees distinguished for their beautiful Fruit. 

 A list of native Trees and Shrubs distinguished for their showy or brilliant 

 colored Bark. 



