Excerpt from The American Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. 40: April, 1841 The vegetable productions of North America, in common with those of most other parts of the world, have generally been first described by European botanists, either from the collections of travellers, or from specimens communicated by residents of the country, who, induced by an enlightened curiosity, the love of flowers, or in some instances, by no inconsiderable scientific acquirements, have thus sought to contribute, according to their opportunities, to the promotion of botanical knowledge. From the great increase in the number of known plants, it very frequently happens that the brief descriptions, and even the figures, of older authors are found quite insufficient for the satisfactory determination of the particular species they had in view; and hence it becomes necessary to refer to the herbaria where the original specimens are preserved. In this respect, the collections of the early authors possess an importance far exceeding their intrinsic value, since they are seldom large, and the specimens often imperfect. With the introduction of the Linnaean nomenclature, a rule absolutely essential to the perpetuation of its advantages was also established, viz. that the name under which a genus or species is first published shall be retained, except in certain cases of obvious and paramount necessity. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."