I:' 



INTRODUCTORY. 



The botanists of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and 

 of Amherst College in Massachusetts in the publication of their 

 local floras defined their areas as circles with a radius of thirty 

 miles from Hanover. and Amherst respectively. It will be advan- 

 tageous to define at the outset v^^hat shall be the working area, 

 botanically, of the Manchester Institute. _ Certain natural and 

 artificial boundaries suggest themselves, within which there is 

 plenty of room, abundance of material and the certainty of not' 

 interfering with or being crowded by workers in other areas. 

 Broadly speaking, then, we claim as our proper area the whole of 

 Hillsborough county, the west half of Rockingham county and 

 the south half of Merrimack county. In other words this_ area 

 may be described as bounded on- the west by the Connecticut 

 valley watershed, on the south by the state line, on the east by 

 the Atlantic watershed and on the north by the arc of a circle 

 drawn through Merrimack county with a radius of twenty-five 

 miles from Manchester. 



The Preliminary List is precisely what its title implies, the 

 first step towards the goal that is set before us. The most of it 

 is drawn from the observations and collections of the compiler, 

 whose researches have been principally confined to the towns 

 of Pelham and Hudson, Manchester and adjoining towns, and 

 Concord. The intention is to extend observations as soon as 

 may be over the whole area named, and in this work the assist- 

 ance of all persons interested is solicited. Communications and 

 specimens forwarded to E. J. Burnham, Corresponding Secre- 

 tary of the Institute, Manchester, N. H., will receive due consid- 

 eration. 



The arrangement of families is that of Engler and Prantl, the 

 great German systematists. The nomenclature is that of Gray's 

 Manual, sixth edition, except in certain families where for good 

 and sufificient reasons the use of a later nomenclature appeared 

 to be preferable. 



5 . . 



