REPORT ON THE FLORA OF JACKSON COUNTY. 



INTRODUCTION. 



No account of the Flora of Jackson County ever having been given, T 

 was solicited by my friends to publish a list of the plants I had found growing 

 without cultivation in the county. 



It was not my intention, at tirst, to commence so laborious a work as the 

 determination of all our native plants, but a simple check list for the benefit of 

 my exchanges : and indeed I do not claim much more for the work, as I am 

 sure that there are many more plants yet undiscovered, which will necessitate 

 the publication of other editions, as more matter accumulates. 



My intention was, upon deciding to publish the Flora, to include nothing 

 but such as had been collected or examined by myself, and I have adhered to 

 it throughout. 



Since the year '53, when Mr. F. Creuizfeldt made a collection in the 

 vicinity of Westport, no one has ever, to the best of our knowledge, collected 

 any plants in the county: therefore I am compelled to rely almost wholly upon 

 mv own investigations for so thorough a work as the enumeration of all the 

 indigenous and naturalized plants of the county. 



Bounded on the north by that great affluent of the Mississippi, it extends 

 southward twenty- three miles, with a breadth of twenty- seven miles, making 

 an area of six hundred and twelve square miles in the county. On the north 

 we have the low alluvial bottoms along the Missouri, where the Polygonums 

 thrive. On the east a low flat prairie, generally covered with water, where 

 Water-Lilies have their habitat. On the south a high undulating prairie, dot- 

 ted with oak mottes, abounding with Asters, Solidagoes and other prairie 

 plants. On the west a ridge of high, broken hills, the remains of the glacial 

 period, upon which are found those species of plants that inhabit dry sterile 

 soil. 



It is intersected by numerous small streams, and the two Blues. One, 

 the larger, Hows northeast through the whole length of the county, and emp- 

 ties into the Missouri between Independence and Kansas City: the smaller rises 

 in the southern part of the county and flows north into the same river. 



The county is also intersected by three railways, one of which extends 

 from the Western to the Eastern confines of the county ; another extends to 

 St Louis, while the third reaches the shores of the great lakes. Half a score 

 of other roads concentrate in Kansas City from all parts of the country — from 

 the waters of the Pacific to the shores of the Atlantic. 



We should therefore expect that the Flora would be greatly enlarged by 

 seeds being deposited on the banks of the Missouri River, and sown along the 

 lines of those great transfers, the railroads. In this, however, we are disap- 



