PLANT LIFE OF ALABAMA. 
INTRODUCTION. 
HISTORY OF THE PRESENT BOTANICAL EXPLORATION OF 
ALABAMA. : 
* In ‘1879 the botanical collections made by the State geologist of Ala- 
bama, Dr. Eugene A. Smith, in the northern section of the State, were 
submitted to the writer for classification, with the request that he take 
charge of the investigation of the flora of Alabama in connection with 
the Geological Survey. Having accepted this duty, the formation of 
a Normal Herbarium of the State was undertaken. To this end the 
collections of the writer, made in the Coastal plain, and particularly 
in the Lower Pine region and Littoral belt, were incorporated with 
the above collections, and thus the foundation was laid for the Normal 
Herbarium of the Geological Survey of the State, deposited in the 
Museum of the University of Alabama, which has served as a basis for 
this report. Subsequently, and during a long series of years, the 
writer has worked singly in the field at such intervals as his official 
duties would permit. Engaged in the investigation of the forests for 
the United States Census in 1880 and 1881, and later in making collec- 
tions for the exhibits of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, at the 
Exposition in Louisville, and the Cotton Exposition at New Orleans in 
1884 and 1885, extensive collections of plants were made and advan- 
tage was taken of the opportunities for the study of plant life in the 
field in all the different regions of the State. Further facilities in the 
same direction were enjoyed from 1890 to 1896 while engaged in the 
study of the forests and in the collection of the material for timber 
tests under the direction of Dr. Fernow, then chief of the Division of 
Forestry, Department of Agriculture. 
During the summer and fall of 1892 several special trips to investi- 
gate more closely the flora of the State were undertaken for the Geo- 
logical Survey of the State. These trips included visits to the so-called 
‘Canebrake (Central Prairie) region, the basin of the Coosa River, the 
eastern part of the mountain region, and the Tennessee Valley. In 
1896 a visit was paid to the Chehawhaw Mountain and the higher val- 
leys and denuded plains in Clay County, the most elevated district in 
the State. Very desirable contributions have been received during 
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