4 PREFACE. 



pains possible, to make the work true and reliable, with the hope 

 and solicitude to make this insignificant, but to me only possible 

 one contribution, to American science. 



I am under lasting obligations to William N. Canby, Esq., 

 of Wilmington, Del., Prof. J. W. Chickering, Jun., and Prof. 

 Lester F. Ward, both of Washington, D. C, for their advice and 

 the attention they paid to me at the Nashville meeting. From 

 that time on I also enjoyed the ])rivilege of submitting critical 

 specimens to Dr. Asa Gray, of Cambridge, for his decision. The 

 late Dr. George Engelmann, of St. Louis, Dr. A. W. Chapman, 

 of Apalachicola, Fla., and Dr. George Vasey, botanist of the 

 Department of Agriculture, have relieved me of many doubts 

 and supplied me with a great number of authentic specimens. I 

 shall ever gratefully remember Dr. Engelmann, and express to 

 the other gentlemen my sincere thanks. Acknowledgments are 

 also due to many active botanists in distant parts of the Union, 

 for their readiness and promptness in exchanging plants and 

 opinions. 



I have no knowledge of authentic published records bearing 

 on the Flora of Tennessee, except an article contributed by Prof. 

 J. W. Chickering to the Botanical Gazette, December, 1880, enti- 

 tled ''A Summer on Roane Mountain.'^ In a number of SttUivmiV s 

 Journal, of 1841, I find a sketch of a botanical tour through the 

 Alleghanies and on Roane Mountain, by Dr. Asa Gray. 



It is much to be regretted that Dr. Rugel, who about thirty 

 years ago resided in the vicinity of Greenville and made valu- 

 able collections and discoveries in that vicinity, and the mount- 

 ains of East Tennessee and North Carolina, died without leaving 

 a record of his work. His collections came in the possession of 

 Mr. Shuttleworth, of England. Senecio Rugelia Gray, Plantago 

 Rugelii Decaisne, Siphonychia Rugelii Chapm. commemorate his 

 name. 



Some species and stations which fell not under my personal 

 observation, are quoted on good authority or credited to the col- 

 lector. 



For description of species I refer to Dr. Gray's Manual and 

 Dr. Chapman's Flora of the Southern States. 



I am fully aware of the incompleteness of the work, but 

 enough is now done to give a satisfactory estimate of our Flora, 

 and nothing short of publication can near its completion. 



Pretending to no other merit than one, due to a persevering 

 effort to illustrate the distribution of the American Flora over 

 the territory of the State of Tennessee, and the accidental dis- 



