1. A STUDY OF THE VEGETATION OF THE SANDHILLS 



OF NEBRASKA 



Raymond J. Pool 



INTRODUCTION 



When Professor Bessey began his work at the University of 

 Nebraska in 1884 he found a state and a flora that were practically 

 unknown to botanists. Except for the scattering notes of early ex- 

 plorers and trappers and a few meagre collections, very little indeed 

 was available to indicate even in a most general way the now well- 

 known diversity of the plant life of this state. Soon there were a 

 number of young men attracted to Professor Bessey's department in 

 the university who became greatly interested in the flora and the 

 general habitat relations of the flora of Nebraska. As a conse- 

 quence of this early spirit, which assumed a strong ecological trend, 

 the Botanical Survey was organized and has been continued for 

 twenty-seven years until there are few states in America whose 

 vegetational characteristics are better known than those of Ne- 

 braska. During these earlier studies the sandhill region was natur- 

 ally the scene of a number of botanical expeditions which resulted 

 in the collection of a considerable mass of data concerning this area 

 which is in many respects unique among our natural phytogeo- 

 graphic regions. 



The first careful botanical work in the sandhills was done by 

 Webber during the summer of 1889. In the report (76) of this 

 expedition we have the first authentic account of floral conditions in 

 the sandhills.' The same report includes also the "Catalogue of 

 Plants," which served for so many years as a guide to the collection 

 and field study of the native plants of Nebraska. Notes on the col- 

 lections, a list of species from the central sandhills, and some com- 

 ments upon preexistent forests of the region constitute additional 

 valuable contributions to the knowledge of the biology of the region 



