The Pioneer Period in the Study of Indiana Vascular Flora

The earliest scientific work on Indiana vascular flora was done by non-resident travelling naturalists. Andre Michaux, born in Satory near Versailles, France, March 7, 1746, spent ten years in North America, 1786-1796, during which time he travelled from Hudson\u27s Bay to Florida and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River, and collected many species of plants. This collection contained about 20 species taken from Indiana on a trip across the state from Louisville to Vincennes in August 1795. Four day swere required for the trip of 125 miles. In commenting on this trip he writes, Of all the journeys I have made in North America in the past ten years, this is one of the most difficult owing to the quantity of trees overturned by storms to the thick brushwood through which one is obliged to pass: to the number of Flies by which one is devoured, etc. This total collection formed the basis for the first general flora of North America. The publication appeared in 1803 following his death in Madegascar in 1802