The Plants of Buffalo and its Vicinity. 



BY DAVID F. DAY. 



It is quite certain that before the establishment of the Buffalo 

 Society of Natural Sciences no one had undertaken to inves- 

 tigate the Flora of Buffalo and determine what plants it comprised. 



It is true that at rare intervals some of the early botanists and 

 collectors had visited our neighborhood. As long ago as 1 749, Kalm, 

 a contemporary and correspondent of Linnaeus, made an excursion 

 to the Falls of Niagara, and, undoubtedly, collected some of the re- 

 markable plants of that locality. In 1806, Pursh, the author of 

 " Flora American Septentrionalis " (as we are informed in his pref- 

 ace) "traversed the extensive and highly interesting country of 

 the Lesser and Great Lakes." In the following year, Michaux, 

 the younger, while engaged in a botanical exploration in western 

 New York, traveled from Batavia to Buffalo, recording some inter- 

 esting observations respecting our primaeval forest ; and, some fif- 

 teen or twenty years later, Drummond and Douglass, distinguished 

 botanical explorers, made collections of plants at Niagara. Unfor- 

 tunately, however, only the scantiest and most unsatisfactory record 

 reaches us of the labors and discoveries of these pioneers of botani- 

 cal science in this vicinity. 



Probably the earliest botanist who had a permanent residence in 

 Buffalo, was Dr. John A. Kinnicutt : — in 1828, one of the physi- 

 cians of the village. In " The Flora of the State of New York," 

 Torrey makes acknowledgement of having received from Dr. Kin- 

 nicutt some of our more notable plants : but, aside from this brief 

 mention, we have no account of his botanical labors. 



Upon the organization of the Buffalo Society of Natural 

 Sciences, in December, i86r, a Committee on Botany was appointed, 

 consisting of the Hon. George W. Clinton, the Society's first 

 President, Dr. Charles C. F. Gay, and the compiler of the present 

 Catalogue. In the spring of 1862, the Committee began an investi- 



BUt.. BUF. SOC. NAT. SCI. (i) APRIL, 1882. 



