Charlie Deam wrote several books about the trees and plants originally found in Indiana at the time of the arrival of European settlers and also talks about living in early Indiana. His biography Plain Ol' Charlie Deam: Pioneer Hoosier Botanist on page 2 describes his parents arrival in 1837 by wagon from Montgomery County, Ohio into the Wabash Valley of Indiana describing their early life as pioneers in 19th century Indiana. The Book Description on Purdue University Press states: Although a self-taught botanist, Charlie Deam (1865-1953) once served as state forester for Indiana and is revered as a pioneer in the field of botany. He traveled more than 100,000 miles throughout the state in his lifetime collecting 73,000 plant specimens. His four volumes about the flora, grasses, shrubs, and trees of Indiana resulted, among other things, in three honorary degrees. Deam's herbarium and 3,000-volume botanical library are now housed at Indiana University. See his books available on Internet Archive.
On August 30, 1865, botanist Charles Deam was born in Wells County. He had his first brush with the curative powers of plants early in his life when he survived typhoid fever after drinking an old pioneer remedy made of boiled milk and an herb called Old-Field Balsam.
Deam eventually became Indiana's first state botanist and author of several books about flora and fauna, like Shrubs of Indiana (1924) and Flora of Indiana (1940). [ See Shrubs of Indiana (1924) by Charles C. Deam December, 1924 at Indiana University Digital Library on Archive.org and Flora of Indiana below. ]
On page 9 under INTRODUCTIONThe first flora of Indiana was a "Catalogue of the phaenogamous and vascular cryptogamous plants of Indiana" by the Editors of the Botanical Gazette and Prof. Charles R. Barnes, published in 1881. To this was added a supplement in April, 1882. These listed 1,194 species native to the state and 140 species that had been introduced. [ That publication is shown below. ]
Stanley Coulter in 1897 compiled a list of Indiana plants by families (Proc. Indiana Acad. Sci. 1897: 158-165. 1898). This list contains 124 families, 534 genera, and 1,369 species, an increase of only 35 species. The names of the species are not given and the totals include both native and introduced species.
The second flora was "A Catalogue of the flowering plants, ferns, and fern allies indigenous to Indiana" by Stanley Coulter, published in 1900. He lists 1,765 species but this number includes both native and introduced species and some erroneous reports. I have studied this catalogue and as I interpret the species, the list should read 1,400 native species, 177 established exotics, 34 not yet established, and 154 species to be excluded for various reasons. It should be borne in mind that when this catalogue was published the author was not able to verify reports as critically as has been done in the present flora. At that time reports by recognized botanists were accepted. It must be remembered that our early botanists did not have access to large herbaria and had few books or perhaps only one book to guide them in naming plants.
Since the publication of these floras much work has been done in the state by various botanists. Among the principal collectors the following persons may be mentioned: Edna Banta, A. R. Bechtel, Chas. M. Ek, Ray C. Friesner, Ralph M. Kriebel, Marcus Lyon, Jr., Scott McCoy, Madge McKee, J. A. Nieuwland, J. E. Potzger, Paul Weatherwax, Winona Welch, and T. G. Yuncker.
Improved highways and the automobile have greatly facilitated collecting. I have been collecting for 40 years. Since 1914 I have used an automobile, traveled over 125,000 miles, and collected in each of the 1,016 townships in Indiana. My accession numbers are now over 59,000. [ With publication in 1940, this implies his transportation 1900-1914 was something else? Horse and buggy, wagon, horseback? ]
The plan of this flora is to include all the species native to Indiana, although a few are now known only from herbarium specimens, and introduced plants that are known to be established. Introduced plants that have been reported as escapes without data concerning their establishment are carried in an excluded list with all the data which I can assemble. If one of the excluded species is later found to be established, the data here recorded may be of service. In the excluded list are included also species that are no longer regarded as segregates, species which have been erroneously reported for the state, and those which do not have sufficient data to warrant their inclusion.
Flora of Indiana by Charles C. Deam described on Amazon.com as Published in 1940, with reprintings in 1970 and 1984, the Flora has served as the standard by which other state floras must be compared. Now over 60 years old, it has clearly withstood the test of time, and continues to be a primary source of information for any serious student of field botany.
Page 456: 1. Coptis groenlandica (Oeder) Fern. (Coptis trifolia of Gray, Man., ed. 7 and Britton and Brown, Illus. Flora, ed. 2.) Goldthread. Map 937. At one time probably infrequent to common in most of the tamarack bogs of the lake area. The tamarack bogs have nearly disappeared and those remaining have been so modified by drainage and grazing that this species has become rare and local. In Allen County its habitat has been destroyed. It was also found on sites where the tamarack bog had just passed into the Betula lutea stage and where some of the sphagnum still remained. This plant was used in medicine. Lab. to Alaska, southw. to Md. and Iowa, and in the mts. to N. C. and Tenn.
Page 457: 2537A. CIMIClFUGA L. 1. Cimicifuga racemosa (L.) Nutt. Black Cohosh. Map 940. Local to very local on wooded slopes in the southern counties. I have also found it on the wooded bank of Cedar Creek in Allen County. Outside the area indicated on the map, Coulter reported it from Kosciusko, Shelby, and Tippecanoe Counties, Higley & Raddin reported it from Pine, Lake County, and Schneck reported it from the Lower Wabash Valley and says: "Once common, now almost extinct." The plant is so conspicuous that if it was at all frequent I would have found it elsewhere in southern Indiana.The rhizomes and roots have been much used in medicine and since the plant is so conspicuous I fear "root collectors" have almost exterminated it. It is commonly known as black cohosh and to the eclectic physician as macrotys. Maine, Out. to Wis., southw. to Ga. and Mo.
Page 940: 13a. Aster laevis var. falcatus Farw. (Rept. Michigan Acad. Sci. 21 : 370. 1920.) Farwell describes this variety as follows: "Panicle usually shorter and ovate; median stem leaves usually broadest at the auriculate base, linear or oblong-lanceolate, under three fourths inch wide and often 6 inches long, some of them falcate; small subulate leaves as in the preceding variety" (var. laevigatas) . I have this variety from the wooded sand hills about 3 miles south of Ft. Wayne, Allen County, and from an upland woods about 2 miles south of Oriole, Perry County. The specimens are deposited in the Gray Herbarium.
Even in 1940, chicory was recognized as a weed.Page 1004: 9553. CICHORIUM[[Tourn] L. 1. Cichorium Intybus L. Chicory. Map 2203. This species is now found throughout the state and in many parts has become an obnoxious weed. When once established, I have found from personal experience that it is very difficult to eradicate. Our first reports for it say: "an escape from gardens." In recent years it doubtless has been introduced in grass and other seeds. The dried roots are used as a substitute for coffee, and it has been cultivated for that purpose. My bitter experience with it compels me to advise against its use in the flower garden and to exterminate it wherever it is found. All of my specimens are from hard, dry clay or dry, sandy soils. Plants with white flowers, forma alba Farwell, are sometimes found. In a colony extending for nearly a half-mile in hard, clay soil along an unimproved road in Allen County I estimated that 40 per cent of the plants were white-flowered. Nat. of Eu. ; N. S. to Wash., southw. to Fla., Tex., and Calif.
Page 1019: EXCLUDED SPECIES. This list contains native species reported from Indiana of which no specimen could be found to confirm the report. Reports of foreign trees, shrubs, and plants found in yards, cemeteries, parks, and gardens have been excluded. This list contains many foreign species that have been reported without data to confirm the fact that they have become established and have become a part of our flora. Among these are many ornamental plants that have escaped to or have been thrown into streets and alleys and have not become a part of our flora. It contains, also, many incorrect determinations which are explained in the text.
2. Dryopteris Linnaeana C. Chr. (Phegopteris Dryopteris (L.) Fee and Dryopteris Dryopteris (L.) Britt.) Oakfern. This species was reported from Allen County upon the authority of J. A. Sanford by the editors of the Botanical Gazette in a supplement to the Flora of Indiana, published in April, 1882. Since this is our only report and there is no verifying specimen, the species is excluded. Newf. to Alaska, southw. to Va., Kans., Colo., and Oreg.
Page 1060: 340. Rubus allegheniensis X recurvans. This hybrid was reported by me in Proc. Indiana Acad. Sci. 1916: 320. 1917. My Allen County specimen no. 19871, Bailey refers to Rubus abortus Bailey. My other specimens, no. 20235 from De Kalb County, no. 19948 from Elkhart County, no. 21283 from Franklin County, and no. 20088 from Lake County, Bailey refers to Rubus allegheniensis Porter.
Page 15: Lake area The lake area occupies the northern part of the state, southward to the Tipton Till Plain but is not sharply separated from it. For practical purposes the south line of this area may be considered to coincide with the north line of the Tipton Till Plain which may be given roughly as a line extending westward from Fort Wayne to Huntington, Logansport, and Monticello to the state line. South of this line are a few, nearly extinct small lakes. There is one in each of the following counties: Wells, Blackford, Grant, and Warren. Deep peat deposits in Hamilton and Madison Counties indicate extinct lakes.
Page 645: Euphorbia obtusata Pursh. (Tithymalus obtusatus (Pursh) Kl. & Garcke.) Map 1339. I have this species from the dry, wooded bank of the St. Mary River south of Fort Wayne, from along the Wabash River east of Bluffton, and from the roadside on the south side of Half Moon Pond about 10 miles southwest of Mount Vernon, Posey County. Madge McKee collected it in Newton County. It was collected in Tippecanoe County by Young and the specimen is in the herbarium of Indiana University. Pa. to Iowa, southw. to S. C. and Tex.
Page 781: Phlox pilosa var. fulgida Wherry. This is a variety with the inflorescence densely clothed with fine nonglandular hairs; calyx lobes broadish. I have a single specimen referable to this variety. It is from a roadside about 10 miles northwest of Fort Wayne. It was also found by Scott McCoy in Benton and Lake Counties. The range of the variety is in the prairies of the Upper Mississippi Basin to Manitoba.
Page 980: Coreopsis grandiflora Hogg. Big Coreopsis. According to Nieuwland, this species is well established along the Lincoln Highway near South Bend and in a few other places in St. Joseph County. Doubtless it has been introduced from the west. The seed may have been scattered here along the highway by some sentimental, trans-continental tourists who acted upon the ill advice published in a magazine a few years ago. It was recommended that tourists should scatter seeds of conspicuous flowers along the roadsides from coast to coast and from the Gulf of Mexico northward. This produced a storm of indignation from botanists who knew that such a procedure would destroy the natural range of species. The species has also been found about 3 miles south of Fort Wayne in an open woods which has been used for years as a dump. Md. to Mo. and e. Kans., southw. to Ga. and Tex.
