Lucien Marcus Underwood

“ North American Hepaticæ.— Among all the groups of Cryptogamia the Hepaticae seem to receive the least attention from students and are also neglected by general botanical collectors. The group was not recognized by Linnaeus as a distinct order yet in Class XXIV in his Systema Natura he describes forty-five species distributed among the following genera: —
Although these Linnaean species to some extent have been redistributed among other genera by later botanists, the genera still remain and include some of our common forms of Hepaticae. ”

“ Seventy-six species have been catalogued from New Jersey and forty-five from Illinois, yet in the latter State only a few counties have been carefully examined. The descriptions of the American species being so widely scattered through German and English works and inaccessible works and periodicals published in our own country, and especially being written largely in Latin are not in a form to be of especial value to the general student. ”

“ In the absence of any American specialist in this group, the subject can receive little aid from general collectors or local botanists until the present knowledge of the subject is systematically arranged for reference and study. ”