Asa Gray
The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States
Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee
Published by Good Press, 2021
EAN 4057664594150
Table of Contents
SYNOPSIS OF THE ORDERS OF PLANT DESCRIBED IN THIS WORK.
ABBREVIATIONS OF THE NAMES OF AUTHORS CITED IN THIS VOLUME.
BOTANY OF THE NORTHERN UNITED STATES.
SERIES I. PHÆNOGAMOUS or FLOWERING PLANTS.
Class I. DICOTYLEDONOUS or EXOGENOUS PLANTS.
Division I. POLYPETALOUS EXOGENOUS PLANTS.
Division II. GAMOPETALOUS DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS.
Division III. APETALOUS DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS.
Class II. MONOCOTYLEDONOUS or ENDOGENOUS PLANTS.
SERIES II. CRYPTOGAMOUS or FLOWERLESS PLANTS.
Subclass I. VASCULAR ACROGENS, or PTERIDOPHYTES. [1]
Subclass II. CELLULAR ACROGENS, or BRYOPHYTES.
LIST OF ORDERS, WITH THE NUMBER OF GENERA AND SPECIES, NATIVE AND INTRODUCED.
PREFACE.
The first edition of Gray's Manual was published in 1848. It was to a great extent rewritten and its range extended in 1856, and it was again largely rewritten in 1867. The great advances that have since been made in systematic botany and in the knowledge of our flora have for several years past made another revision desirable, which Dr. Gray before his death was purposing to undertake.
The present editors, acting to the best of their ability in his stead, have endeavored throughout to follow his methods and views. The original plan, so long retained by Dr. Gray and so generally approved, has been closely adhered to, the characters and descriptions of the last edition have been left essentially unchanged so far as possible, and in the numerous alterations and additions that have been considered necessary or advisable, his conclusions and principles have governed in every matter of importance, so far as they could be known. The effort especially has been to maintain that high standard of excellence which has always made the Manual an authority among botanists.
In the treatment of the genera and species, Gray's Synoptical Flora has been made the basis in the revision of the Gamopetalous Orders, and the manuscript in continuation of that work, so far as prepared, for the Polypetalous Orders which precede Leguminosæ (excepting Nuphar, the Cruciferæ, Caryophyllaceæ, Vitis, and the small Orders numbered 18, 22, 23, 25–27, and 29). The genus Salix has been rewritten for this edition by M. S. Bebb, Esq., the genus Carex by Prof. L. H. Bailey, and the Ferns and allied orders by Prof. D. C. Eaton. For the rest, all known available sources of information have been made use of, and much willing help has been received from botanists in all parts of our territory.
The increasing interest that is taken in the study of the Cellular Cryptogams, and the desire to encourage it, have led to the inclusion again of the Hepaticæ, which were omitted in the last edition. These have been prepared through the kindness of Prof. L. M. Underwood, though the limits of the volume have necessitated somewhat briefer descriptions than he considered desirable. The three fine plates illustrating the genera of these Orders, which were used in the early editions, are also added, with a supplementary one, as well as an additional one in illustration of the Grasses, thus increasing the number of plates to twenty-five. A Glossary of botanical terms is appended, to meet an expressed need of those who use the Manual alone, and a Synopsis of the Orders in their sequence is given, to contrast more clearly their characters, and to show the general principles which have determined their present arrangement. This should be a useful adjunct to the more artificially arranged Analytical Key.
Geographical Limits, and Distribution.—The southern limit of the territory covered by the present work is the same as in the later previous editions, viz. the southern boundary of Virginia and Kentucky. This coincides better than any other geographical line with the natural division between the cooler-temperate and the warm-temperate vegetation of the Atlantic States. The rapid increase of population west of the Mississippi River, and the growing need of a Manual covering the flora of that section, have seemed a sufficient reason for the extension of the limits of the work westward to the 100th meridian, thus connecting with the Manual of the Flora of the Rocky Mountain Region by Prof. Coulter. These limits, as well as that upon the north, have been in general strictly observed, very few species being admitted that are not known with some degree of certainty to occur within them. The extreme western flora is no doubt imperfectly represented.
The distribution of the individual species is indicated somewhat more definitely than heretofore in many cases, so far as it could be satisfactorily ascertained. The extralimital range is also sometimes given, but the terms "northward," "southward," and "westward" are more frequently employed, signifying an indefinite range in those directions beyond