HOFFMANN: FLORA OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY. 179- 



failed to find. Everyone knows how hard it is to find rarities when 

 everything is unfamiliar. It is not to Dewey's discredit, that a keen, 

 collector like Mr. Frank "Walters added Arisaema Dracordium, Cimi- 

 cifnga racemosa and Derdaria laciniata to the County-list in Dewey's 

 own town. The great majority of species and varieties in the present 

 list which were not contained in Dewey's list, are plants now recog- 

 nized as distinct which had not in his day been separated from closely 

 related species. There are also a number of introduced species, like 

 Riidbeckia Mrta, which have jnade their way into the County during^ 

 the last one hundred years. Anyone who studies Dewey's list, keep- 

 ing in mind the state of botanical knowledge in his day, will entertain 

 a great respect for his energy and acuteness. 



Dewey's chief interest in botany early became the genus Carex. 

 He began to contribute studies of this genus to the American Journal 

 of Science and Arts in 1824 and continued tiU 1866, the year before his 

 death. 



The following species were named either by him or by his corre- 

 spondents from material collected in Berkshire County. 



Carex formosa Dewey from Stockbridge. 



Carex novae-angliae Schwein. from Saddle Mt. (Greylock) . 



Carex scabrata Schwein. from Berkshire County. 



Carex longirostris Torr. from Sheffield. 



Carex Davisii Schwein. and Torr. from Sheffield. 



Carex Hitchcockiana Dewey from Saddle Mt. 



Carex Tuckermani Dewey from Sheffield. 



Carex Schweinitzii Dewey from WilHamstown. 



Carex setacea Dewey from Williamstown. 



In 1S40 Dewey was commissioned by the Governor of the State ta 

 prepare a report on the flowering plants of Massachusetts, a compan- 

 ion to Emerson's classic report on the trees and shrubs. There are a 

 number of references in this report to Berkshire Coimty, some of which 

 are interesting enough to quote, as throwing light on the history of 

 its flora diu'ing the last century. Of the Sweetbrier {Rosa ruhiginosa) 

 he says, p. 55, " Its perfectly wild state in the fields and along hedges- 

 in the north part of Berkshire County has led me to doubt its importa- 

 tion into that part of the state." Of the Shrubby Cinquefoil (Poten- 

 tilla fruticosa), which is now a pest in moist pastures, he only says, 

 p. 57, it " grows on the margin of ponds Ln marshy situations and on 

 cold upland tracts." Dewey did not seem to know Vicia Cracca from 



