HOFFMANN: FLORA OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY. 17^ 
failed to find. Everyone knows how hard it is to find rarities when 
everything is unfamihar. It is not to Dewey's discredit, that a keen 
collector like Mr. Frank Walters added Arisaema Dracotitium, Cimi- 
cifvga racemosa and Dentaria lacimata to the County-list in Dewey's 
own town. The great majority of species and varieties in the present 
list which were not contained in Dewey's list, are plants now recog- 
nized as distinct which had not in his day been separated from closely 
related species. There are also a number of introduced species, like 
Rvdbeckia hirta, which have made their way into the County during 
the last one hundred years. Anyone who studies Dewey's list, keep- 
ing in mind the state of botanical knowledge in his day, will entertain 
a great respect for his energy and acuteness. 
Dewey's chief interest in botany early became the genus Carex. 
He began to contribute studies of this genus to the American Journal 
of Science and Arts in 1824 and continued till 1866, the year before his 
death. 
The follo\\ang species were named either by him or by his corre- 
spondents from material collected in Berkshire County. 
Carex formosa Dewey from Stockbridge. 
Carex novae-angliae Schwein. from Saddle Mt. (Greylock). 
Carex scabrata Schwein. from Berkshire County. 
Carex longirostris Torr. from Sheffield. 
Carex Davisii Schwein. and Torr. from Sheffield. 
Carex Hitchcockiann Dewey from Saddle IVIt. 
Carex Tuckermani Dewey from Sheffield. 
Carex Schweinitzii Dewey from Williamstown. 
Carex setacea Dewey from Williamstown. 
In 1840 Dewey was commissioned l)y tlie Governor of the State to 
prepare a report on the flow(M"ing plants of ]\[assachusctts, a compan- 
ion to Emerson's classic report on the trees and shrubs. There are a 
number of references in this report to Berkshire County, some of which 
are interesting enough to {[uote, as throwing light on the history of 
its flora during the last century. Of the Swectbrier {Rosa rubiginofta) 
he says, p. 55, "Its perfectly wild state in the fields and along hedges 
in the north part of Berkshire County has led me to doubt its importa- 
tion into that part of the state." Of the Shrubby Cinquefoil {Potcn- 
tilla fruiicosa), which is now a pest in moist pastures, he only says, 
p. 57, it "grows on the margin of ponds in marshy situations and on 
cold upland tracts." Dewey did not seem to know I'icia Cracca from 
