THE FLORISTIC PLANT GEOGRAPHY OF 

 MARYLAND 



FORREST SI IRE YE 



I NTKODPCTOKY. 



There lias never been an attempt, "made at a complete enumeration 

 of the flora of .Maryland, although the state lies in a region in which 

 the collection and study of plants has been pursued since the middle 

 of the Eighteenth Century. The early work of the Bartrams, of 

 Pursh, Xuttall, Muhlenberg, Darlington and Rafinesque was carried 

 on either partly in Maryland it -" near its borders as to he applicable 

 to its flora. 



The earliest list of Maryland plants is thai published in 1837 by 

 William E. A. Aikin, M. D., entitled "A Catalogue of Phaenogamous 

 Plants and Ferns, Native or Naturalized, Growing in the Vicinity of 

 Baltimore, Maryland."* This catalogue lists L063 species, and is 

 based on work done in 183-1 and 1835 in Frederick County and in 

 L836 in the vicinity of Baltimore. The author says, ''The low 

 grounds of the Eastern Shore and the mountain ridges of Allegany 

 County* have been scarcely examined by the botanist." Seven years 

 earlier than Aikin's hist appeared the Prodromus of the Flora 

 ( lolumbiana compiled by J. A. Brereton, M. IT, and arranged accord- 

 ing to the Linnaean System. This was the first of a number of lists 

 of the plants of the District of Columbia, none of which have been 

 strictly confined in their area to the District. 



In 1876 appeared the "Flora Columbiana," which embodied the 

 results of the Potomac-Side Naturalists' Club, under the guiding 



*For exact citations of literature see the List of Literature at the end 

 of this chapter. 

 tWhich then comprised the present counties of Allegany and Garrett. 



