Beck, Lewis Caleb. Botany of the Northern and Middle States; or a description of the plants found in the United States, north of Virginia, arranged according to the natural system, with a synopsis of the genera according to the Linnaean system – a sketch of the rudiments of botany, and a glossary of terms. Albany: Webster and Skinners, 1833.  Click here to read.

Gray, Asa. “Catalogue of Plants Collected East of the Rocky Mountains.” In Isaac Ingalls Stevens’ Narrative and final report of explorations for a route for a Pacific railroad, near the forty-seventh and forty-ninth parallels of north latitude, from St. Paul to Puget Sound, 1855, 2nd volume, pp. 40-49. This two-volume set is just “volume 12” of a larger one, Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean , made under the direction of the secretary of war, in 1853-5. Washington, D.C.: A.O.P. Nicholson, 1855-1869. Click here to read.

Gray, Asa. Manual of the botany of the northern United States; revised edition; including Virginia, Kentucky, and all east of the Mississippi arranged according to the natural system. New York: Ivison & Phinney, 1859. [This is the edition that was used as a guide for this project. Thoreau owned two earlier editions.]   Click here to read.

Parry, Charles Christopher. “Article V: Systematic Catalog of Plants of Wisconsin and Minnesota, by C.C. Parry, M.D., Made in Connexion with the Geological Survey of the Northwest, During the Season of 1848.” An Appendix in David Dale Owen’s Report of a Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, and incidentally of a portion of Nebraska territory, made under instructions from the United States Treasury Department. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1852, pp, 606-621. Click here to read.

Pursh, Frederick. Flora Americae Septentrionalis; or, a systematic arrangement and description of the plants of North America. Containing, besides what have been described by preceding authors, many new and rare species, collected during twelve years travels and residence in that country. London: White, Cochrane and Co., 1814, vol. 2.  Click here to read.

Richardson, Sir John. Arctic Searching Expedition: A Journal of a Boat-Voyage through Rupert’s Land and the Arctic Sea, in search of the discovery ships under command of Sir John Franklin. With an appendix on the physical geography of North America. London: Longman, Green, Brown, and Longmans, 1851. 2 vols. Click here to read volume two.

Stevens, Isaac Ingalls. Narrative and final report of explorations for a route for a Pacific railroad, near the forty-seventh and forty-ninth parallels of north latitude, from St. Paul to Puget Sound, 1855. But this two-volume set is just “volume 12” of a larger one, Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean , made under the direction of the secretary of war, in 1853-5. Washington, D.C.: A.O.P. Nicholson, 1855-1869. [Emerson owned the set. So did the Minneapolis Athenaeum. Thoreau presumably copied passages from one or possibly both of those sources.]

Wood, Alphonso. A Class-Book of Botany, Designed for Colleges, Academies, and other Seminaries. 17th edition, revised and enlarged. Claremont, N.H.: Manufacturing Company, 1851.  Click here to read.

Compiled by Corinne H. Smith