The Woody Plants of Kentucky. 3 



(■(minion creeper (Virginia? 1 ), whortleberry, huckleberry, cran- 

 berry. 



In his life of Rafinesque, the author, R. E. Call, intimates that 

 M'Murtrie secured this list from Rafinesque who was at the time 

 actively engaged in studying the botany of Kentucky. If this is 

 true it explains in a manner the mountain plants included. 

 Rafinesque knew the flora of much of the State, whereas M'Murtrie 

 aimed to present the flora of the region about Louisville. It seems 

 hardly credible that the great laurel, red elder, mountain laurel 

 and other species noted in the list have ever been found growing 

 wild at Louisville. 



The French-German, Rafinesque, was a remarkable man in his 

 prime, of great mental and physical energy. He left a more endur- 

 ing mark on the botany of Kentucky than any other pioneer writer. 

 Some of his published species have never been collected by others 

 in the State. He was an indefatigable collector at a time when 

 the botany of the State was almost untouched either by the lumber- 

 man, the agiculturist, or the botanist, and thus had opportunities 

 for study in the field not enjoyed by those who followed him. It is 

 unfortunate that he was unable somewhere to leave a complete 

 record of the work he did while here. He was made professor of 

 natural sciences at the old Transylvania University in 1818, and 

 for some years thereafter remained in Kentucky. 



In 1833, Doctors Short and Peter, of Lexington, published 

 their list of Kentucky plants in the Transylvania Journal of Medi- 

 cine. In it are about one hundred and fifty-three species of woody 

 plants, some of them probably observed in cultivation. The list 

 covers the whole State, yet records only about thirty species more 

 than M'Murtrie's Louisville list. This is the most satisfactorv 

 of the old lists, and bears evidence of having had the painstaking 

 care which local lists should receive. Both men were good botanists, 

 and appear to have scrutinized the plants of Bluegrase Kentucky 

 with special thoroness.* 



*It was my good fortune to know for a brief time Dr. Robert Peter, 

 one of the authors of the list. He was well along in years, a good gray 

 man, whose modesty, unselfishness and industry were most pleasant to wit- 

 ness. But in a selfish world these qualities too often work to the disad- 

 vantage of their possessors, and Dr. Peter has not yet, I think, received 

 from Kentucky the appreciation his patient labor in her interest has earned 

 for him. 



