16 Bulletin 1, Biological Society of Washington, 1918. 



June 19, 1786, the entry being: ''A Mons. Andr6 Michaux, 

 a botanist sent by the court of France to America, visited, 

 dined and returned to New York whence he had come." 

 Certain subsequent entries relate to plants presented by 

 Michaux and set out in the grounds at Mount Vernon. 



The first ^o formal list of plants of the District of Colum- 

 bia appeared in David Baillie Warden's ''Chorographical 

 and Statistical Description of the District of Columbia" pub- 

 lished in Paris in 1816. The list is entitled Florula 

 Columbiana, etc. (see bibliography) and contains 142 species 

 identified by the celebrated botanist, Joseph Correa de Serra, 

 Ambassador from Portugal to the United States. 



Organized study of the plants of the District of Columbia 

 began in 1817 with the formation of the Washington 

 Botanical Society, March 20. The society had 13 charter 

 members and added 7 later. The District was divided into 

 four regions which were assigned to committees of members 

 for study. The society was vigorously active until 1820, 

 much less so in succeeding years and held a final meeting at 

 which it adjourned sine die March 27, 1826. 



The results of its labors were a check list published in 

 1819, the Forula Columbiensis, containing names of 296 

 plants; a fuller list, the Florula Columbiana, published in 

 the Washington Guide in 1822 and mentioning 460 species; 

 and the Florae Columbianae Prodromus of 1830 listing 912 

 species. The first was anonymous, and the last two appeared 

 under the name of Dr. John A. Brereton. There is no 

 doubt, however, that they are founded upon the entire her- 

 barium of the Botanical Society to which Dr. Brereton con- 

 tributed no more than certain other individuals. 



The next considerable wave of botanical activity in the 

 District was due to the Potomac-Side Naturalists Club. 

 This organization founded in 1858, languished during the 



=»Rafinesque informs us (Raflnesque, C. S. Circular address on Botany 

 and Zoology, followed by the Prospectus of Two Periodical Works ; Annals 

 of Nature and Somiology of North America. Philadelphia, 1816, page 

 12) that he prepared a Florula Columbica, or catalogue of the plants 

 found in the District of Columbia, 1804, which he gave Dr. B. S. Barton 

 for insertion in The Philadelphia Medical and Physical Journal. Dr. Bar- 

 ton acknowledged (op. oit. II. 1806, p. 177) this to be a fact and promised 

 to publish the catalogue with additions — a forecast never fulfilled. 



