THE LAKE ERIE SHORE AS A BOTANIZING GROUND. 



Read before the Biological Section, February i^th, iSSg, 



BY T. J, W. BURGESS, M. B. ; F. R. S, C. 



Perhaps few, if any of you are aware that almost at our very 

 doors, certainly within easy reach of the members of this Association, 

 lies what is probably the best botanizing ground in Ontario, I might 

 even say the best in Canada if we exclude British Columbia and the 

 Rocky Mountains. I refer to the shores of Lake Erie, a region 

 less known botanically than any other part of the Dominion, except 

 the parts I have mentioned. While the counties imm^ediately 

 adjoining the lake constitute the district to which I specially refer, it 

 may be said to include the banks of the Niagara, Detroit and St. 

 Clair Rivers, and the border of Lake St. Clair. 



Forty-nine years ago Sir Wm. J. Hooker published his great 

 work, the " Flora Boreali Americana," and in it recorded all then 

 known, through the early travellers and explorers, of our species and 

 their distribution. In 1840 to 1843 appeared the "Flora of North 

 America" by Torrey and Gray, and in 1878, the latter gentleman 

 published the first volume of his "Synoptical Flora of North 

 America," comprising the Gamopetalae after Composite. These 

 works virtually contained all that was known of Canadian botany, 

 except occasional lists which had from time to time appeared in 

 scientific publications, up to 1883, when the first part of Professor 

 Macoun's '* Catalogue of Canadian Plants " was brought out. This 

 part, which comprised the Polypetalae, was followed in 1884 by a 

 second, treating of the Gamopetalae, and in the same year appeared 

 the second volume of Gray's "Synoptical Flora," completing the 

 Gamopetalous Dicotyledonous plants. In 1886 and 1888, two other 

 parts of Prof. Macoun's great work were issued, treating, respectively, 

 of the Apetalae and the Endogens. This wonderfully comprehensive 

 catalogue is now our standard work on the number and distribution 

 of Canadian species, and forms a lasting monument of the good work 

 done by Mr. Macoun for the science he loves so well, and which he 

 has done so much to foster in this country. It has thrown the first 



