The first effort toward a systematic study of the native plants of 
this region was made by Pres. Edward Hitchcock! about 1817. The 
results of his explorations were published in 1829, and for many years 
very little was added to this list except what Prof. Tuckerman and 
others published in contemporary scientific journals. In 1875 Prof. 
Edward Tuckerman,? who for many years occupied the chair of his- 
tory and botany in Amherst College, published his “ Flora-Amherst- 
iensis,” in co-operation with Mr. Charles C. Frost, of Brattleboro, 
Vermont. This list is based on Pres. Hitchcock’s previous catalogue, 
but is much more extensive, including as it does an elaborate list of 
mosses, liverworts, lichens and fungi, and in allit contains nearly 3,000 
species and varieties. It is unusually complete for its day, and repre- 
sents the work of skilled observers and systematists. 
Besides being largely responsible for the flowering plants and vas- 
cular cryptogams contained in the Flora, Prof. Tuckerman contrib- 
uted a very elaborate list of lichens, a most perplexing group of plants. 
He willalways be remembered as the American pioneer in the study 
of lichens, and was from the first a thorough master of this difficult 
group, while he lived having no competitors. Even today his work 
remains unsurpassed and ranks as a classic. 
The comprehensive list of mosses, liverworts, fungi, etc., was con- 
tributed by Mr. Charles C. Frost, and quite a few of the fungi bear 
his name as authority. This self-educated man, whose trade was that 
of cobbler, spent his leisure moments in the study of these difficult 
groups. 
In 1887 Dr. N. A. Cobb,* then a teacher of science at Williston 
Seminary, but later government pathologist in New South Wales and 
now with the Bureau of Plant Industry, Washington, D.C., published 
a revised edition of Prof. Tuckerman’s catalogue, in which new plants 
were added and the boundaries of others not so well known extended. 
Since Dr. Cobb’s catalogue in 1887 a few additions to the plants of 
the region have been published, appearing largely in Rhodora. 
Professional collectors and students from the various educational 
institutions located in the Connecticut valley have for years been 
active in collecting herbaria, and some new and rare plants have been 
1 E. Hitchcock—Catalogue of Plants growing without Cultivation in the 
Vicinity of Amherst College. 
2 E. Tuckerman—Catalogue of Plants growing without Cultivation within 
Thirty Miles of Amherst College. 
3 N. A. Cobb.—A List of Plants Found Growing Wild within Thirty Miles of 
Amherst. 
