The botanical significance of Pehr Kalm's unpublished diaries for the flora of Quebec in the mid-eighteenth century

Abstract

ABSTRACT Pehr Kalm's diaries of his travels in North America are now being edited for publication in their entirety for the first time. They contain a great deal of botanical data which were not included in the account En Resa til Norra America published by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in three volumes, 1753–1761, and later transalted into English as Travels in North America by J. A. Forster, Warrington, 1770–1771. This paper analysed Kalm's botanical observations during his trip to Canada in the summer of 1749 and considered such matters as the number of species observed and described — many of which did not find their way into Linnaeus' Species Plantarum despite the close connection between the two men. Changes in the distribution of some species since 1749, the introduction of weeds and other aliens were also discussed.