PREFACE. 



PAET ly. 



The fii-st volume of this Catalogue of Canadian Plants consists of 

 three parts separately published and bearing date 1883, 1884 and 

 1886 'respectively. Part I. includes the Polypetalse, Part II. the 

 Gamopetalse, Part III. the Apetalse and Gymnosperms. Part IV., 

 now issued, is devoted to the Bndogens, and forms the first portion of 

 Volume II. of the Catalogue. Part V. will include the ferns and their 

 allies with the mosses and liverworts, and it is intended in Part VI. to 

 catalogue the lichens, fungi and seaweeds. 



Over 2,000 species of named cryptogamous plants, to be catalogued 

 in Parts V. and VI., are now in the herbarium, and it is probable that 

 the number will be raised to 2,500 before these parts are published, so 

 that the entire work will enumerate about 5,500 species of plants 

 (indigenous and introduced) found growing without cultivation within 

 the limits of Canada. 



Since the publication of Part III. extensive collections have been 

 made by James M. Macoun on the shores and islands of James Bay. Dr. 

 G. M. Dawson has made valuable and interesting notes and collections 

 in that part of the North-West Territories bordering on Alaska. The 

 writer spent five months collecting on Vancouverlsland and gathered 

 much valuable information regarding its flora. That part of this addi- 

 tional information which is applicable to the Bndogens is included in 

 the present issue. 



In accordance with the plan adopted at the commencement of the 

 work, I have placed myself in communication with specialists in the 

 various orders and have had their assistance in the determining and 

 verifying of critical or new species. 



As on former occasions, Dr. Sereno Watson has rendered valuable 

 assistance, especially in the Liliacese and Juncacese. In the Naiadacese 

 I have had very much help from Mr. Arthur Bennett, F.L.S., 

 Croydon, England, and from Eev. Thomas Morong, Ashland, Mass. 

 These gentlemen, by examination and comparison of authentic 



