IV PREFACE. 



Everglades unsafe, or at least undesirable. The species omitted are 

 generally unknown northward of Key West. Students at Mecanopy, 

 Ocala, to St. Augustine, will scarcely miss them ; but should they do 

 so, they will confer a grateful favor by contributing specimens of such 

 to the author. 



That every species of native plant in this extensive region is accu- 

 rately defined, or even noticed, we cannot presume ; yet this has been 

 our aim ; and as in the former series, so here, we have distrusted every 

 source of information except that of our own personal inspection. 

 Therefore, into nearly every section of this territory, from the St. 

 Lawrence and the Lakes to the Gulf, and from the Sea-Coast to the 

 Great River, the author has made repeated excursioBS in delighted con- 

 verse with the vegetable world. 



Together with the plants of spontaneous growth which constitute 

 our proper Flora, we have included in our sketches also our exotic 

 Flora ; that is, all those plants which seem to us to have attained a 

 general cultivation in this country, either as useful, curious, or orna- 

 mental. By this accession, learners in the city, as well as in the coun- 

 try, may be supplied with subjects for illustration and for practice in 

 botanical analysis; and all with the means of acquainting themselves 

 with the beautiful tenants of their own fields, gardens, and conserva- 

 tories. 



From the multiplication of species and genera we have studiously 

 refrained, believing that our books already contain more than Nature 

 will warrant. In the case of any doubtful specimen, which might have 

 served as the basis of a new species, or possibly genus, (had this been 

 our aim), we have always inclined rather to the extension of the limits 

 of some kindred group for its reception, having less apprehension of 

 error in this direction than in the opposite, with all due regard for the 

 permanence of true species. The same principle has compelled us to 

 disallow the claims of many reputed species of the best authors. 



In the sequence of the Natural Orders, we have, in common with all 

 recent American authors, mainly adopted the arrangement of De Can- 

 dolle, an arrangement seen, in part, in the ' Flora of the State of New 

 York,' by Dr. Torrey. It commences with those Orders supposed to 

 be of the higher rank in organization, and proceeds gradually to the 

 lower, regarding the- completeness of the flower and the distinctness of 

 its parts as the general criterion of rank. 



Tables of analysis by the dichotomal method were first in the Cl ass- 

 Book applied to the genera of plants, and introduced into general use. 

 They are now regarded as indispensable, and have been adopted into 

 their Floras by nearly every subsequent author. In the present new 



