322 A. Gray — Flw*a of North America. 



is certainly to be prayed for: precarious, too, in the current 



sense of the word as being uncertain; yet not so, according to 

 an accepted definition, viz: "uncertain, because depending 

 upon the will of another;" for it is not our will but our power 

 that is in question ; and it is only by the combined powers and 

 efforts of all of us interested in Botany that the desired end can 

 possibly be attained. 



It were well to consider for a moment how and why it is that 

 a task which has twice been — it would seem — easily accom- 

 plished has now become so difficult. 



The earliest North American Flora, that of the elder Mi- 

 ehaux, appeared in the year 1803. It was based entirely upon 

 Michaux's own collections and observations, does not contain 

 any plants which he had not himseli gathered or seen, is not, 

 therefore, an exhaustive summary of the botany of the country 

 as then known, and so was the more readily prepared. Mi- 







and died of fever in Madagascar in 1802. The Flora purports 

 to be edited by his son, F. A. Michaux, who signed the classical 

 Latin preface. The finish of the specific characters, and espe- 

 cially the capital detailed characters of the new genera, reveal 

 the 'hand of a master; and tradition has it that these were 

 drawn up by Louis (Maude Richard, who was probably the 

 ablest botanist of his time. Tins tradition is confirmed by the 

 fact that Richard's herbarium (bequeathed to his son, and now 

 belonging to Count Franqueville), contains an almost complete 

 set of the plants described, and 1 found that the specimens of 

 Michaux supplied to Willdenow's herbarium at Berlin were 

 ticketed and sent by Eichard. Not only the younger Eichard 

 but Kunth : :he work as 



of Eichard, and some others have followed, this example, 

 enough, however, there is no reference whatever to 

 Richard in any part of the Flora, nor in the elaborate preface. 

 The most venerable botanist now living told me that there was a 

 tradition at Paris that Richard performed a similar work for 

 Persoon's Synopsis Plantar um, and that he declined all mention 

 of his name in the Synopsis and in the Flora, because the two 

 works— contrary to the French school— were arranged upon 

 the Linnaean Artificial System, lie had his way, and the 

 tradition may be preserved in history ; but his name cannot be 

 cited for the genera Elylraria \h , • .. , .. I Jea, Stimuli- 

 ada, Diclmnncna, Ory;:oj,sis. Eri"„t}ni-. and the like. For, by 

 the record these are of Michaux, Flora Boreali- Americana, and 

 not of Eichard. 



Michaux's explorations extended from Hudson's Bay, which 

 he readied by way of the Saguenay, to Florida, as far, at least, 



