THE FLORA OF NORTH AMERICA. 245 



Michaux's explorations extended from Hudson's Bay, which 

 he reached by way of the Saguenay, to Florida, as far, at 

 least as St. Augustine and Pensacola ; he was the first botani- 

 cal explorer of the higher Alleghany Mountains, and, cross- 

 ing these mountains in Tennessee, he reached the Mississippi 

 in Illinois, and was as far south as Natchez. His original 

 itinerary, which I once consulted, is preserved by the Ameri- 

 can Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia, to which it was 

 presented by his son. It ought to be printed. That little 

 journal shows that it was not Michaux's fault that the first 

 Flora of North America was restricted to the district east of 

 the Mississippi River. He had a scheme for crossing the con- 

 tinent to the Pacific. He warmly solicited the government at 

 Washington to undertake such an exploration, and offered to 

 accompany it as naturalist. This may have been the germ 

 or the fertilizing idea of the expedition of Lewis and Clark, 

 which was sent out a few years afterward by Jefferson, to 

 whom, if I rightly remember, Michaux addressed his enter- 

 prising proposal. 



Leaving out the Cryptogams of lower rank than the Ferns, 

 we find that the Flora of Michaux, published at the begin- 

 ning of this century, say eighty years ago, contains 1530 

 species, in 528 genera. No very formidable number ; as to 

 species (speaking without a count) little over half as many as 

 are described in my " Manual of the Botany of the Northern 

 States," which covers less than half of Michaux's area. * 



Eleven years afterward, namely, in the year 1814 (the 

 preface is dated December, 1813), appeared the second Flora 

 of North America, namely, the " Flora Americae Septentrio- 

 nalis," by Frederick Pursh. This was not confined to the 

 author's own collections, but aimed at completeness, or to give 

 " a systematic arrangement and description of the plants of 

 North America, containing, besides what have been described 

 by preceding authors, many new and rare species, collected 

 during twelve years' travels and residence in that country." 



It appears that Pursh was born at Tobolsk, in Siberia, of 

 what parentage we do not know. He himself tells us, in his 

 preface, that he was educated in Dresden, and that he came 



