Natural History of New York, Zoology of New York, New York Flora T1, J. Torrey 1843

A FLORA OF THE STATE OF NEW -YORK, COl\lPRISING FULL DESCRIPTIONS OF ALL THE INDIGENOUS AND NATURALIZED PLANTS HITHERTO DISCOVERED IN THE STATE; WITII REMARKS ON THEIR ECONOMICAL A:ND DIEDICINAL PROPERTIES By JOHN TORREY, M D., F L S VOL I ALBANY: CARROLL AND COOK, PRINTERS TO THE ASSE:\IDLY 1843 The copyright of this work is secured for the benefit of the People of the State of N e\v-York SAMUEL YOUNG, ~Stlcretary of SLat.~ Albany, 1843 PREF ACE Act for a Geological Survey of New-York, passed by the Legislature in 1836, makes provision for a full account of tIle Natural I-listory of tIle State Having been appointed to take cllarge of the Botanical Departlllent of the Survey, I present in tllese volulnes the resllits of IllY labors From tIle follo\ving llistorical sketcll, it ,viII be seel1, that \vllile much lIas been done to make knO\V11 the vegetable productions of tIle State, this is the first separate \vork in which all the known plants of Ne\v-Yorl{ llave beel1 enunleratell and described.~: TIle earliest treatise on tIle Botany of New-York, tllat lIas come under IllY observation, is the " Pialltre Coldenhall1ire" of Goverllor COLDEN, pllbiisiled in the Acts of the Royal Society of Upsal for tIle y"ear 1744 It is all account of tIle plants gro\ving spontaneously in the neighborhood of Coldenham, in Orange County, and elnbraces only tIle first twelve classes of the Linnrean Systeln The second part ,vas (I believe) never published t KALM, a pupil of LINNlEUS (and afterwards a Bisllop), visited Nortll Alllerica in 1747, and collected plants in Ne,v-York, whicll are often referred to in the writings of LINNlEUS, and nlan~r of tllem are preserved in his llerbariulll Dr W ANGENHEIM, a Hessian surgeon in the British ArnlY ouring the _A.nlerican Revolution, made numerous observations OIl tIle plants of tllis country, particlliarly on those of New-York After his return to Germany, he published a work on the trees of North America MICHAUX the elder travelled in the nortllern and soutilern parts of the State in 1792, while engaged in collecting plallts for the French Goy'ernnlellt, as well as for his Flora Boreali-.J1mericana, which was published in Paris in 1803 He ,vas acconlpallied by his son, who afterwards revisited tllis country, and travelled extensi rely in nlost of the States east of the Mississippi, and, on returning to Europe, pllblislled, in 1810, his splendid work on the Forest Trees of North America The younger MICHAUX examined tIle valley of the Hudson, the borders of Lake Champlain, and a considerable portion of tIle western counties THE * Much of this historical matter was furnished for Governor State t See Dr GRAY'S memoir of COLDEN, in Silliman's Journal [FLORA.] B SEWARD'S Introduction to the Natural History of the II PREFACE The late Dr C W EDDY, of New-Yorl{, was a zealous botanist, and devoted much attention to tIle, plants of tllis State; but his herborizations were mostly confined to the vicinity of the metropolis and Long Islal1d In 1808, he llublished in tlle New-York Medical Repository a list of plants growing spontaneously around Plandolne, in Queens county TIle sanle year, PURSI-I, author of tIle Flora Jlmerict2 Septentrionalis, made an extensive botanical tour on foot tllrough tIle State, the fruits of whicll nre recorded in his work Major J LE C~ONTE (110\V, I 1,elieve, the' oldest botanist ill the Ullited States) llas for l1lany years assiduousl y studied th(~ plants of N ort.h Arncrica Among his valuable publications is a catal(),~ue of 468 species of indigenous and natnralized plants gro\ving spontaneous] y on tIle island of N C\V - Yorl{ This was inserted in the American Medical and Pllilosopllical Register for 1811, edit.ed by Dr HOSACK and Dr FRANCIS In 1814, the latc Professor JACOB GREEN publishcd at Albany his list of the native plants of the State of Nc\v-Yurl{, in tIle conlpilation of ,vlllch he \vas assisted by Messrs PURSH, EDDY, LE CONTE~ und WHITLO\V III 1817, at the rcqllcst of tlle Lyceu111 of Natural History, I prepared a list of the plants gro'Ying witllill tllirty llliles of the city of New-York, which was not publislled, however, llntil 1819 It ell11Jraced about 1300 species (of \\rIlich sevcral new ones were described) , including a CUllsiderabie portioll of tIle Cr}rptogarnia The first edition of tIle Man ual of Botany') by tIle late Prof EATON, of Troy, appeared in 1818 Tllis ,veIl kllo,vn 'York passed tIlr~l1g11 eigllt editions, the last of ,vhich, in an enlarged forl11, under tIle title of Nortil All1erican Botall}~, is dated 1840, and was prepared by tIle united labors of Prof EATON and JOHN WRIGHT, ~I D The authors have indicated 1110st of the rarer plallts ,vIlich tlley llad ascertailled to be indigenous to ~ ew-York TIle first YOIUlllC of lllY' Flora of tIle l\iiddle and Korthern States, aceording to the Linnreall Sy'stClll, was publislled in 1823 and 1824, and enlbraced the classes from Monandria to Icosandria illclusive Before the second Volul11e ,\~as completed., the 'York was interrupted by otller labors, and finally abandoned, tInder tIle persuasion tllat I could better serv"e tIle cause of N ortll All1erican Botany b}r adopting the nattlral s)Tstem A Compendiunl of tIle Flora ,vas, llov.rever, given to tIle public in 1826 Tllese works contain most of tIle observatiolls I had then lllude on the plants of N c,,'"-York III 1833, Prof L C BECK gave us llis ,veIl digested alld conlprehensive Botany of the Northern States Witll the exception of IllY account of Dr James's plants collected in Long's first Expedition, tllis \vas tIle first All1crican 'York ill vl11icll the Natural System was follo\ved TIle next publication relative to tIle Flora of our State., is a Catalogue of Plants growil1g in tIle vicinity of Troy, by Prof J H_o\LL and Dr J WRIGHT Tllis appeared in 1836 Beside these contributions to the Botany of N e\\r-York, various articles on tIle same sllbject are inserted in scientific alld other periodicals In the Transyl~ania Journal of Medicille for 1832, is a description of some new or rare PREFACE III plants found near Troy by the late Mr H H EATON Silliman's Journal contains descriptions of New-York plants by Mr DAVID THOMAS, Prof DEWEY and others In the Reports of the Regents of the University are several local catalogues of plants, which are useful in giving the geographical range of many species Some of the most important of these lists are the following: Rare plants detected in Westchester County" by S_~MUEL B MEAD, M D., published in the Report for 1830; List of indigenous plants growing in the vicinity of Kinderlloolr, by W V S WOODWORTH, to be found in tIle Report of 1840; Plants growing near Aurora, Cayuga COUllty, by ALEXANDER THOMPSON, M D., printed in the Report of 1841 ; Cataloglle of plants in and about tIle city of Rochester, with their times of flo'\vering for 1841, in tIle Report of 1842 In tIle sam~ report is a very full and accurate catalogue of the plants of Ollcida County, by P D KNIESKERN, M D In the Report of tIle followi.llg year is a Botallical Calendar for the year 1842, by Prof DEWEY The Anllals of the Ne\v-York Lycellnl contain an excellent !Japer by Dr GRAY, on some rare plants of the nortIlcrn and \vestern Coullties, besides other articles in \Vllich New-York plants are described or noticed by Dr GRAY and myself Lastly I Inay be allo\ved to llotice the Flora of NortIl Alnerica, by Dr GRAY and myself, 110t only because it is Pllblislled in Ne,v-York, but also as contail1ing the reslllts (as far as the worl{ extends) of our nllluerOllS observations on tIle plants of this State There are few regions north of Virgillia, possessed of greater interest to the botanist, than the State of New-York The geographical range of plants being limited by the characters of tIle soil and rocks as well as by teillperaturc, and the geological features of the State being greatly diversified, our Flora embraces nearly as Inany species as the whole of New-England The able geologists of the Survey llave fully described tIle physical characters of the surface, so that I may omit SUCll details here For botanical purposes, it is sufficient to divide the State into four Floral Distriets, which nearly correspond with the Zoological Regions of Dr DEKAY WitlI the exception of the first, they cannot be very accurately circuillscribed THE ATLANTIC REGION Tllis consists of Long Island alone; for although Staten Island, as well as the Island of New-York and a part of Westcllester, are within the limits of salt water, they belong, botanically considered, to tIle Second Region Besides Dllmerous maritill1e plants, Long Island affords Inany species tllat are found in no other part of the State Some of these characteristic plants are tIle following, viz : Clematis ocllroleuca, Polygala lutea, * Hudsonia ericoides, Drosera filifor1nis, Ilscy1"um sta1tS, I1renaria squarrosa, Clitoria Mariana, Eupatoriu'J1~ leucolepis, E rotund'ifolium ff aroTaaticum, Aster spectabilis, Chrysopsis falcata, (}oreopsis rosea, Lobelia Nuttall-i'i, Euphorbia Ipecacuanha, Eleocltaris tuberculosa, and Panicum verrucosum l\Jlost of tllese plants are also c.haracteristic of the great tertiary region of the United States, particularly of that portion of it which embraces the pine barrens of New-Jersey • See Appendix PREFACE IV 'fIfE I-IuDsoN VALLEY REGION This includes all that }Jortion of the State which is ,vatered by the Hudson and its tributaries, as far north as Washington and Saratoga counties, together "Titli tIle yalley of the Mo,llawk east of tIle Little Falls; and also Staten Island Its Ycgetation, tal\:en as a ,vholc, is silnilar to that of Connecticllt, the ,vestern part of Massachusetts, the northcrn }lart of Nc,v-Jersey, and Pennsylvania east of the Blue Ridge It is diffieult to indicate its characteristic plants; but very few of the following are found ill any of tIle other regions: Ranunculus ])usillus, Brasenia peltata, Nasturtium hispid1.l1n, ilcne Pfnnsyh'((ll'ica, Le.\'j)crlcza c(fjJitat(l, Crotalaria sagittalis, Prunus lJ.mericana, JJ.cer dasycarpu1n, Ludlci,~ia sp!z(crocarj)([, Erhinocystis lobata, Crantzia lineata, Vernonia Novebo1·acensis, ~nlill gcdiU11t acunLina!u1n, Clcthra a In ifolia, Kalmia angustifolia, Hottonia inflata, Qucrcns oliv(pforlnis f:) macrocaJ'j)(l, Bet'ula r'ubra, Scirpus planifolius, and lJ.the1·opog'on apl1.tdoidfS In the soutllern part of this region (particularly tlJe island of New-York and Staten Islalld) there ocellr a fe'v s!Jccies (such as Desmod'ium viridiflorum and Stylosanthes elatior) , that are fonnd ill 110 other part of the State except Long Island The Inountainous districts present a vegetation lTIOre rescrnbling tllat of tIle northern counties Thus, the Myrica Gale and /lrcnar£a Grrenlandica occur on tlie lligller sllmmits of the Shawangunk Mountains; Potentilla tridcntata alld Pyrus flucuparia, on the peaks of the Fishkill Range; ,vhile 011 tIle Catskill 1110l1ntains (solne of ,vllich attaill all altitude of between 3000 and 4000 feet) are found GoodyeTa repens, Oxalis lJ.cetosella, Solidago thyrsoidea, lJ.bies balsamea ff alba, and Betula papyracea THE WESTERN REGION is bounded on tIle soutll by the State of Pennsylvania, on the west by Lakes Erie and Olltario, on tIle north lJy an irregular line extending along the SOllthern borders of J efferSOll and Lewis counties to tIle Little Falls; so that it includes Oswego, the greater portioll of Oneida, and the southern part of Herkimer counties Eastwardly it blends with tIle Hudson River Region Its vegetation greatly resembles that of the nliddle portiolls of tile country east of the l\Iissis8ippi, lying between the Great Lakes and tile Ohio River SOBle of tIle peculiar species are the following: Jeffersonia diphylla, Hydrastus Canadensis, I1rabis dentata, Solea concolm", Ptelea trifoliata, Trifolium reflexum, Phaca neglecta, Gyntnocladus Canadensis, Gillenia trifoliata Sf stipulacea, Erigenia bulbosa, Fedia Fagopyrum, Solidago Ohioensis, Collinsia ve'rna, Zigadenus glaucus and (}yperus Scltweinitzii A fe\v Canadian }Jlants find their way frOin a considerable distance north, into this region, \\Titllout being kno\vn to occur in tile intervening country; such as Viola Selkirkii, Valeriana sylvatica, Pinguicula vulgaris, and Primula Mistassinica THE NORTHERN REGION includes all tllat part of the State which lies north of the Moha\vlr Valley alld the Hoosick River It is bounded on tIle west by the River St Lawrence and tIle nortlleastern extrcll1ity of Lake Ontario, and on tIle east by Lake Champlain and the State of Verll10nt Mucll of th~ central part of this region is still a wilderness To,vards tIle east and 8011tll tlle land is elevated ,vith high mOllntains, among which are numerous ·snlailiakes Here are the SOllrces of the Hudson, the All Sable, the Saranac, l PREFACE v Blaclr, Raclret, and many otller snlaller rivers Some of tIle mountains, such as Mount Marcy, Mount M'intyre, and Wlliteface, rise to tlle h(·jgltt of {roln 4900 to 5400 feet, and afford a truly alpine vegetation On some of the higher peaks are found El)ilobiurn~ alpinttm, Solidago TTirg'(lUrea, Rhododendron Lapponicum, Vacc£niu1n uli/~inosuln, Diapensia Lappon,ica, Empet1 um nl~g'rnm, Poa alJ) ina , I-lierocltloa alpina, Juncns trijidus, (t arex sa.1'alilis, Jli1 a atrOp'llrpUrea, and other plants peculiar to hj.~h lllollntains of tIle nortllcrn henlisphcrc, or natives of the arctic zone Sonle of the cllaraeterjstie plants of the less elevated portions of this region are fl:nernone multi/ida, Draba arabr£:::;a'ns, Ceanotltus oval£s, Nardosm'ia palmata, Aster ptarm-icoides, /1 rni ca 'lnollis, /-/al,' nin d~flexa, Batschia canescens, Dracocepltalun~ part'iflorum , Haben,ar'ia obtusata, f1i/uls 1,ir£dis, JllliurrlJ Canadense, Juncus styg'ius and Eq'lllisetum scirpo1°des In its goeneral features, tIle botany of this rrgion is v(~ry sinlilar to that of Southern Canada and the Northern Ne,v-England States Some plallts are COllllnon to tIle N orthC'Tn and Western R('gions, but 110t OCellI" in the Valley of tIle Hudson., nor on Long Island; SUCll as Turrit'is stricta, Nastllrtiuln nata1~s, Hyper'l°cum ellijJticum, Astragalus Can,ade1~s'is, GeUl1t Tivale Sf Canadcnse, COiilarU{f~ palustre, Tiarella cordifolia, GnajJlt.aliu/nt decurre1ls, Pyrola uniflora, Shephcrdia (/auadensis'l StreptOP'lts arttplexicGulis, and Juncus filiform'Z~s The State of N e,v-York is the northern limit of a considerable nllnlber of species Thus Magnolia acum'Z°Ttafa occurs on the Niagara River, and on tIle borders of Lake 011tario, 41 somewhat beyond the latitude of 43°, wllile its eastern limit is the nortllern part of Colunlbia COllnty Opuntia vulgaris 11as been found in tIle soutllern part of Herkimer County Hydrocl~aris cordifolia, ,yllich Dr BRADLEY detected 011 the swampy borders of Lake Ontario, is a remarkable instance of a SOlltllern plant being found so far nortll, ,vithout occllrring in the intervening country Aconitum u1~cinatum is sparingly seen on the banks of the Chenango Riyer, in latitude 42° Nelumbium luteu1n is a native of Big SOdllS Bay on Lake Ontario, in lat 43° 20 beyond ,vhicll, to the north, it Ilas not hitlterto been observed Long Island is the northern limit of nllnlerous species, suell as Quercus Phellos, prinoides If nigra, besides nlany of those which 11ave been enulnerated as the peculiar plants of that region The SOllthern linlits of plants are not so well defined as the extent of their range to,,:ards the nortll; for many nortllern species are found along the tracts of lllountains, where the temperature is lo,v and tIle air moist, several degrees SOllth of their ordinary places of growth Still we l1ave a few plants in our Flora, ,vllieh, I believe, have not been observed south of the State of New-York; such as Hipp'llrisvulgaris, Myriophyllu1n tene/tum, 5"elinu1n Canadense, Valeriana sylvatica, Pterospora lJ.ndromedea, Populus Balsa1nifera, and Shepherdia Canade1i~sis We can boast of but few plants tllat are unl{nown out of tIle limits of our Flora Pyrola uliginosa, a new species, is alnlost the only unequivocal one of this class Scolopendrium vulgare (an European fern) is certainly indigenous in the western part of the State, and I have no information of its having been found elsewhere 'in North America The rarest of all ferns, Onoclea obtusilobata, first described by SCHKUIIR, and now unknown to any ; PREFA.CE VI European herbarium, was fOllnd more than twenty years ago by Dr JEDEDIAH SMITH, in Washington County He obtained only two specimens, botll of which (though in a mutilated state) are still in existence, and no others have since been obtained Diligent but llnsuccessful scarell Ilas been rnade for it in the original locality of Dr SMITH It is reillarkable, that on tIle shores of tile Great Lakes, there are certain plants, the proper station of ,vhich is tIle ilnnledjatca lie ig-llborllood of tIle ocean, as if tlley llad constituted part of the carly Flora of tl108C regiolls, wIlen tIle lal{es \vere filled witll salt water, and have sluO\yivl,d the change that lias taken place in tIle pllysical conditions of their soil Aillong SllCli species 111~lY be CnUl1H'rnteu ()al-Lilf marilinlJl, Hudsonia tomentosa, Lathrus maritilnus, and EUjJhorbia polygonij()lia Of proper InllritiHH' plten(J~amous l)lants, the shores of Long I8land and Staten Island, a~ \v(,II as the coullll('s of Ne,v-York and \\TestchC'ster \yIlere tlley border on the Hudson and the Sound, nne )rd alH)ut lift J species, llonc of \vhicll are s('(_'n lJf'yond tIle limits of salt, or, at least, brac.kish, \vuter, CXCC!)t a fc\v \v]lich occur ill tIle saline soils of Salina and Syrneuse Tilt" \vllolc 111111lber of Flo\vering Plants hitherto found in tJle State is about 1450 species, ,vllicll is 100 1110rt' than \vcrc t'llUllH'ratcd in Illy prelilninary Report of 1840 Of Ferns and their allies, 60 species belong to Ollr Flora The utiler cryptogamic orders haye not yet been fully dcterlnined, as I filld tlleir 11U11lber so great tllut they· could not be included in tIle t\VO YOIUnles to ,yllicil 11l~Y first Report was limited An account of such as belong to the orders l\Iusci, He!Jaticre, Licllenes, Cllaracere and Algre, ,viII be given in a future YOllll118 if alltllorized by tIle Legislature TIle Fungi constitute so peculiar a department of the \T egetablc Kingdoll1, and tlleir sl)ecies are so extremely numerous, that a botanist, to tlleffi jllsticc, Inllst 111ak:e tllel1l allllost an exclusive study The late Rev M DE SCH"VEINITZ llas gi veIl us a list of 1110re than 3000 species belonging to the United States, Inost of ,vI-licll he fOUIld ill tIle State of Penns}1vania Tllere can be little doubt tilat a yery large proportioll of tllenl grow in Ke\v-York; b1lt in collecting these plants, I have been obliged to COllfine l1lyself to the lllore important species A Report on tIle BotallY of Ollr State 'VOllld possess little vallIe, unless the plallts were described so tilat they could be idelltified; and the only ,yay ill ,vhieh this COllld be done (unless the dcscril)tiollS are extended to all llnreasonable length) , is by elllploying botanical langllage, and by arranging tIle plants in 111etllodical order Hence I was induced to put the matter of IllY report in tIle forl11 of a Flora Ha ying adopted this plan, I COllld not hesitate for a nl0111ent as to tIle systelll \yllicll OUgllt to be used; for the artificial classification of Lilln[eUS, lluying accolllplishcd the object for ,,"hiell it ,,~as designed, may be considered as I110rc thall llseless ill tIle present advanced state of Botany TIle natural arrangement has tllerefore been follo,vcd In defining the orders, it has been deemed advisable, in 111any instances, to omit cllaracters that belong exclusively to exotic plants The groups of orders have been adopted, with but little alteration, from the admirable Botanical Text Bool{ of my friend Dr GRAY As to the names of synonyms of genera and species, the Flora of North America has been followed, as far as that work is published, T PREFACE VII except where changes were necessary Beyond the Compositre, the Flora is not written out, nor have all the plUllts of tIle remaining orders been critically studied; so that hereafter changes will probably be Illade in a few of the spcc.ies described in tllcse volumes, when they are reexanlined to take their })lacc in the larger work of Dr GRAY and myself Remarks on the Inedicinal and econolnieal uses of the plants, as well as miscellaneous observations, are placed immediately after the detailed descriptions, and not in a separate part of the work In tIle tables at the end of tIle second volume will be found a list of all the natural orders of whicI1 we lluve representatives in the State of New-York, with the number of species belonging to each, and the proportion ,vhiclt they bear to the whole of the flo\vering plants, as ,veIl as to tIle t\VO grand divi~ions of tllese It will be seen that our most numerous dicoty-Iedonous orders are the RANUNCULACElE, whic.h constitute about "3\rth of tIle flo\vering plants; the CRUCIFERlE, 15"th; the LEGUMINOSlE, "21tjth; ROSACElE, '215"th; tIle UMBELLIFERlE, :s\,tll; the COMPOSITlE, ~tll; tIte ERICACElE, "314"th; tile LABIATlE, "31"2d; and SCROPHUL_~RI_