A. Gray— Flora of North America. 323 



as St. Augustine and Pensacola ; he was the first botanical 

 explorer of the higher Alleghany Mountains, and, crossing; 

 these mountains in" Tennessee, he' reached the Mississippi in 

 Illinois, and was as far south as Natchez. His original itin- 

 erary, which I once consulted, is preserved by the American 

 P ■, sopl •;, S H-ietv, at Philadelphia, to which it was presented 

 bv iiis son. It outfit to be printed. That little journal shows 

 that it was not Michaux's fault that the first Flora of North 

 America was restricted to the district east of the Mississippi 

 River. He had a scheme for crossing the continent to the 

 Pacific. He warmly solicited the government at Washington 

 to undertake such an exploration, and offered to accom- 

 pany it as naturalist. This may have been the germ or 

 ing idea of the expedition of Lewis and Clark, 

 Which was sent out a few years afterward by Jefferson, to 

 whom, if I rightly remember, Michaux addressed his enter- 

 prising proposal. 



, published at the beginning 

 of this century, say eighty years ago, contains loMn species in 

 e number; as to species (speak- 

 ing without a count) little over half as many as are described 

 in my Manual of the Botany of the Northern States, which cov- 

 ers less than half of Michaux's area. 



Eleven years afterward, namely, in the year 1814 (the pref- 

 ace is dated December, 1M;;, at p-.iivd tl'ic second Flora of 

 North America, namely the Flora Ahicriai' S-ptmlrkfialis, by 

 Frederick Pursh. This was no! conlined to the author's own 

 collections, but aimed at completeness, or to give ,l a systematic 

 arrangement and description of the plants of North America, 

 . besides what have been described by preceding 



It appears that Pursh was born at Tobo 



Isk, in 



rage we do not know. He him 



self tel 



!"'' a< e th it he ■ as c bleated m Dm sdeu, ai 



id that 



this country— to Baltimore and Pmladelplr 





the last centurv. when he must have bee, 





years old. He'was able to make the ae.p.mi 





Muhlenberg, who survived until 1810. and 



of Wi 



bodied in Ls-2:}, b„t also of the veteran 11 





who died in 1805. His early and princip 





too, «rbo supplied the 



means 



the travels which he was able to ' i 



an. I ,vl 





•oiiectii 







not extensive. From 1802 till 1805 he ws 



ia in cl 



