452 Karl M. Wiegand and Arthur J. Eames 



Dudley's Flora was planned to include also the lower groups of plants, but only 

 the first part, dealing with the gymnosperms and the phanerogams, wa5 published. 



Since the publication of Dudley's Flora in 1886, the exploration of the Cayuga Lake 

 Basin with respect to the vascular plants has been prosecuted interruptedly by a num- 

 ber of local botanists. Some of these were only incidentally interested, mainly as 

 students, while others were engaged in the work seriously. Professor W. W. Rowlee 

 took an active interest in the flora from 1888 until his death in 1923, and many valu- 

 able records were made by him during that long period. In 1892 and 1894, E. J. 

 Durand, D. F. Hoy, and the senior author of this flora, began their field studies about 

 Ithaca. In the following years several persons connected with the Department of 

 Botany made important collections. Dr. L. H. Bailey has resided in Ithaca for many 

 years, and has made a number of important records. When the new Department of 

 Botany in the College of Agriculture was founded in 1913, work was begun in earnest 

 looking toward the publication of a new flora of the vascular plants of the basin. 

 During the period from 1913 until the present, much of the time of several persons 

 has been employed in exploring the region, and 14,000 collections of vascular plants 

 have been made. Also, a vast number of records have been obtained on distribution, 

 soil requirements, and other factors. The persons most active during this period 

 besides the authors, under whose direction the work was done and who have con- 

 tributed the major part of the collections and records, were E. L. Palmer, L. H. 

 MacDaniels, C. C. Thomas, F. P. Metcalf, A. Gershoy, A. R. Bechtel, W. C. 

 Muenscher, L. F. Randolph, A. H. Wright, and S. H. Burnham. Nearly every part 

 of the basin has been visited, usually more than once at different seasons, and some 

 places have been visited many times. It is hoped, therefore, that the records set 

 forth in the present catalog will be found to be fairly complete. 



AFFINITIES OF THE CAYUGA LAKE FLORA 



Certain plants occurring within the limits of the basin, such as Primula mistas- 

 sinica, Pinguicula vulgaris, Saxifraga aizoides, and Carex capillaris, are well known 

 to be of northern range and to find their southern limits in or near the Cayuga Lake 

 Valley. So also it is known that Magnolia acuminata, Gymnocladus dioica, Rud- 

 beckia spcciosa, Listera australis, and other plants, find their northern limits in 

 the Cayuga region or extend only slightly beyond. It is known further that many 

 bog plants have a northern range. To what extent these northern and southern ele- 

 ments form parts of the flora, and whether there are also other elements, is not so 

 apparent. Dudley, to be sure, listed thirteen northern plants that have their southern 

 limits here, and noted fifteen western plants extending scarcely farther eastward, as 

 well as fifteen southern plants which rarely extend farther northward; yet more 

 complete data have been lacking. 



In order to get more definite information, a detailed study of the affinities of the 

 Cayuga flora was undertaken. The tables and results obtained are so voluminous, 

 however, that it has seemed necessary to reserve them for a separate_ paper. Only 

 the general plan of the investigations can be outlined here, and the principal results 

 noted. It was first thought necessary to tabulate all the plants of the flora, but 

 when the " rare," " scarce," " infrequent," and " occasional " plants were noted in 

 one table, and some of the " frequent " and " common " plants in another, it became 

 apparent that the latter were so general in their occurrence as to furnish no im- 

 portant information concerning affinities. It was therefore decided to confine the 

 study to the former table. These unusual plants, being on the outskirts of their 

 range, apparently indicate more clearly the geographical relationships. A large table 

 was prepared, in which the 446 species rated as rare, scarce, infrequent, and 

 occasional were listed under the following headings : pteridophytes, gymnosperms, 

 monocotyledons, or dicotyledons ; northern, southern, coastal, saline, Appalachian, 

 central, Mississippian, or general western, range: acid bogs, marl bogs, general wet 



