CHAPTER II. 



' BOTANY. 



CATALOGUE OF OHIO PLANTS. 



By W. A. Kellerman, Professor of Botany, Ohio. State 



University, and Wm. C. Werner, Assistant 



in Botany. 



In the various Geological Reports heretofore published both the gen- 

 eral and the special features of the topography and geology of Ohio have 

 been recorded. Suffice it therefore to note here "that there is only mod- 

 erate diversity in elevation; though the geological formations exposed 

 are numerous and varied. The soils also exhibit a varied character. 

 They are composed of drift material over a large portion of the state. 

 Sedentary soils occur in the southern portion and alluvium is abundant 

 along the numerous watercourses. The climate is rather uniform, being 

 tempered on the north by a large body of water. In the extreme south- 

 ern portion of the state there is a barely perceptible approach to a 

 warmer climate. 



The flora of the state is therefore rather rich in forms — receiving a 

 few on the north that may be considered as boreal, and a few in the 

 counties bordering on the Ohio river that may, perhaps, correctly be 

 regarded as southern species. Besides, plants occur in the western half 

 of the state which are decidedly significant of the prairie flora. The 

 more broken and hilly area of the east, south, and south-east allies that 

 part of the state botanically to the Appalachian region. 



EARLY COLLECTORS. 



The flora has received much attention from the people of the state. 

 The early settlers found a magnificent forest that inspired them with awe, 

 though it was to some extent an impediment to their occupancy and til- 

 lage of the soil. Many j^ears elapsed before anything in reference to the 

 flora found its way into print, though the lovers of nature, good ob- 

 servers, and real botanists were doubtless numerous. 



As making the first though a small contribution to the botanical liter- 

 ature of Ohio, Dr. Daniel Drake of Cincinnati, is to be mentioned. He 



