INTRODUCTION. 



This work is presented with a view to increasing the interest in 

 botanical work in this vicinity and to enlarge the field of research. 

 Until the present school year, the study of botany had been entirely 

 confined to the branch Amhophyta and almost exclusively to Angiosper- 

 mae. This way of presenting the study to beginners is a mistake be- 

 cause it is partial in scope, acquainting the student only with those 

 forms which he can easily study for himself and excluding the six 

 branches of the vegetable kingdom which are least likely to be ex- 

 amined independently. Before the beaut}' and economic interest of the 

 lower forms were so well known, there was some excuse for such a one- 

 sided study of plants, but those days are gone. 



It is difficult in a college to get enough literature to carry on work 

 in eryptogamie botany successfully, and therefore another object of this 

 little pamphlet is to get the descriptions of the species of one order 

 into such a form that they may be placed in the hands of each member 

 of future classes. 



I have collected at every spare moment from April to December and 

 have made a thorough search for blights, orchids and ferns. During 

 the college months the time was limited, but in the summer vacation 

 my time was divided between this work and a study of cross-fertilization 

 of tomatoes. 



Collections were made of all classes of plants, and I have found the 

 flora rich for a region so thoroughly cultivated. Nature has done more 

 for us than for most portions of Iowa. We have in Fayette county six 

 or seven geological formations, which give variety to our soil and flora. 

 Dry hills, shady hill sides, abrupt ledges of lime-rock, prairies, native 

 forests, river waters and banks, sparkling springs, pools, ponds, wet 

 places, and marshes are all within five miles of Fayette. The collection 

 of our phanerogams will be completed as thoroughly as possible next 

 summer, and a list will be published. Six hundred-fifty plants are now 

 collected for this purpose. 



The orchids were collected at the request of Miss Carrie Harrison, 

 for the National Herbarium, this being the first set from Iowa. My 

 thanks are due to her for many favors. In this work as well as in the 

 collection of other phanerogams, I am indebted to Dr. C. C. Parker, 

 whose thorough knowledge of our flowering plants has always been at 

 my service. 



I wish to express my thanks to Dr. T. J. Burrill,of the University 

 of Illinois, for the descriptions used, to Dr.J.C. Arthur of Purdue 

 University, and to Mr. Geo. C. Clinton of the University of Illinois, for 



