12 INTRODUCTION 



a strange medley of plants as I am sure has 

 scarcely ever been seen before. Even an old- 

 fashioned nosegay, plucked at random and daz- 

 zling the eye v^ith all the hues of the rainbow, 

 does not present so bizarre an appearance. Here 

 there are gathered within one sacred enclosure, in 

 which the pious may reverently walk and rumi- 

 nate, the memories of the great demigods of the 

 healing art; flowers from every section of our 

 land, fragrant like Gardenia, and brilliant of 

 color like Poinsettia, lowly like Glaytonia and 

 Mitchella, climbing over our houses and droop- 

 ing their beautiful panicles like Wistaria; stately 

 trees of the forest like Torreya and Douglas' fir, 

 and here and there about an old root the fungi of 

 Herbst; and down in the swampy corner of 

 the garden grow Sarracenia and Darlingtonia. 

 I must not dwell longer here upon these hon- 

 ored colleagues who have left behind them 

 these memorials more lasting than bronze. He 

 who will know them better must from time to 

 time foregather with me in the pages which 

 follow. 



It is generally agreed that the Canadensium 

 Plantarum aliarumque nondum editarum His- 

 toria, 1635, by a French botanist, Jacques Cor- 

 nuti,^ was the first book on American botany, 



^ Commonly referred to as " Cornut," but his real name seems to 

 have been " Cornuti " in French. 



