PREFACE. V 



Black, Racket, and many other smaller rivers. Some of the mountains, such as Mount 

 Marcy, Mount M'Intyre, and Wliitoface, rise to the height of from 4900 to 5400 feet, 

 and aflbrd a truly alpine vegetation. On some of the higher peaks are found Epilobium 

 alpinum, Solidago Virgaurea, Rhododendron Lapponicuni, Vaccinium uliginosum, Diapensia 

 Lapponica, Empetrmn nigrum, Poa alpina, Hierochloa alpina, Juncus trijidus, Carexsaxatiiis, 

 Aira atropurpurea, and other plants peculiar to high mountains of the northern hemisphere, 

 or natives of the arctic zone. Some of the characteristic plants of the less elevated por- 

 tions of this region are Anemone multifida, Draha arahizans, Ceanothus ovalis, JVardosmia 

 palmata, Aster ptarmicoides, Arnica mollis, Halenia deflexa, Batschia canescens,Dracocephalum 

 parvijlorum, Habenaria ohtusata, Alnus viridis, Allium Canadense, Juncus stygius and 

 Equisetum scirpoides. In its general features, the botany of this region is very similar to 

 that of Southern Canada and the Northern New-England States. 



Some plants are common to the Northern and Western Regions, but do not occur in the 

 Valley of the Hudson, nor on Long Island ; such as Turritis stricta, jVasfuriium nutans, 

 Hypericum ellipticiim, Astragalus Canadensis, Geum rivale fy Canadense, Comarum palustre, 

 Tiarella cordifolia, Gnaphalium decurrens, Pyrola uniflora, Shepherdia Canadensis, Strep- 

 topus amplexicaulis, and Juncus filiformis. 



The State of New-York is the northern limit of a considerable number of species. Thus 

 Magnolia acuminata occurs on the Niagara River, and on the borders of Lake Ontario, 

 somewhat beyond the latitude of 43°, while its eastern limit is the northern part of Columbia 

 County. Opuntia vulgaris has been found in the southern part of Herkimer County. 

 Hydrocharis cordifolia, which Dr. Bradley detected on the swampj' borders of Lake 

 Ontario, is a remarkable instance of a southern plant being found so far north, without 

 occurring in the intervening country. Aconitum uncinatum is sparingly seen on the banks 

 of the Chenango River, in latitude 42°. JYelumbium luteum is a native of Big Sodus Bay 

 on Lake Ontario, in lat. 43° 20' ; beyond which, to the north, it has not hitherto been 

 observed. Long Island is the northern limit of numerous species, such as Quercus Phellos, 

 prinoides §• nigra, besides many of those which have been enumerated as the peculiar 

 plants of that region. 



The southern limits of plants are not so well defined as the extent of their range towards 

 the north ; for many northern species are found along the tracts of mountains, where the 

 temperature is low and the air moist, several degrees south of their ordinary places of 

 growth. Still we have a few plants in our Flora, which, I believe, have not been observed 

 south of the State of New-York ; such as Hippuris vulgaris, Myriophyllum tenellum, Selinum 

 Canadense, Valeriana sylvatica, Pterospora Andromedea, Popuhis Balsamifera, and Shep- 

 herdia Canadensis. 



We can boast of but few plants that arc unknown out of the limits of our Flora. Pyrola 

 uliginosa, a new species, is almost the only unequivocal one of this class. Scolopendrium 

 vulgare (an European fern) is certainly indigenous in the western part of the State, and 

 I have no information of its having been found elsewhere in North America. The rarest 

 of all ferns, Onoclea ohtusilobata, lirst described by Schkuhr, and now unknown to any 



