Journal of the New York Botanical Garden

              VOL. XXVIII SEPTEMBER, 1927 No. 333
JOURNAL
OF
THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
REPORT OF THE KILLIP- SMITH BOTANICAL EXPEDITION TO
COLOMBIA, 1926- 27
ELLSWORTH P. KILLIP
CACTI
JOHN K. SMALL
TWO NATIVE BIGENERIC HYBRIDS
P. A. RYDBERG
BOTANIZING IN THE MOUNTAINS OF COLORADO
FRED J. SEAVER
RELATION OF SOILS TO PLANT GROWTH
B. A. KEEN
NOTES ON FLORIDA MOSSES
R. S. WILLIAMS
PUBLIC LECTURES DURING SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER
NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT
ACCESSIONS
PUBLISHED FOR THE GARDEN
AT LIME AND GREEN STREETS, LANCASTER, PA.
THE SCIENCE PRESS PRINTING COMPANY
Entered at the post- office in Lancaster, Pa., as second- class matter.
Annual subscription $ 1.00 Single copies 10 cents
Free to members of the Garden
THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
BOARD OF MANAGERS
FREDERICK S. LEE, President JOSEPH P. HENNESSY
HENRY W. DE FOREST, Vice President ADOLPH LEWISOHN
F. K. STURGIS, Vice President KENNETH K. MACKENZIE
JOHN L. MERRILL, Treasurer BARRINGTON MOORE
N. L. BRITTON, Secretary J. P. MORGAN
EDWARD D. ADAMS LEWIS RUTHERFURD MORRIS
HENRY DE FOREST BALDWIN FREDERIC R. NEWBOLD
NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER H. HOBART PORTER
CHARLES P. BERKEY CHARLES F. RAND
PAUL D. CRAVATH HERBERT M. RICHARDS
ROBERT W. DE FOREST HENRY H. RUSBY
CHILDS FRICK GEORGE J. RYAN
WILLIAM J. GIES MORTIMER L. SCHIFF
R. A. HARPER WILLIAM BOYCE THOMPSON
JAMES J. WALKER, Mayor of the City of New York
WALTER R. HERRICK, President of the Department of Parks
SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORS
R. A. HARPER, P H . D., Chairman FREDERIC S. LEE, P H . D., LL. D.
CHARLES P BERKEY P H . D HERBERT M. RICHARDS, SC. D.
NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, P H . D., TT TT _ ., _
LL. D. LITT. D. HENRY H. RUSBY, M. D.
WILLIAM J. GIES, P H . D. GEORGE J. RYAN
GARDEN STAFF
N. L BRITTON, P H . D.. SC. D., LL. D Director- in- Chief
MARSHALL A. HOWE, P H . D., SC. D Assistant Director
JOHN K. SMALL, P H . D., SC. D Head Curator of the Museums
A. B. STOUT, P H . D Director of the Laboratories
P. A. RYDBERG, P H . D Curator
H. A. GLEASON, P H . D Curator
FRED. J. SEAVER, P H . D Curator
ARTHUR HOLLICK, P H . D Paleobotanist
PERCY WILSON Associate Curator
PALMYRE DE C MITCHELL Associate Curator
JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART, A. M., M. D Bibliographer
SARAH H. HARLOW, A. M Librarian
H. H. RUSBY, M. D Honorary Curator of the Economic Collections
ELIZABETH G. BRITTON Honorary Curator of Mosses
MARY E. EATON Artist
ROBERT S. WILLIAMS Administrative Assistant
KENNETH R. BOYNTON, B. S Head Gardener
H. M. DENSLOW, A. M., D. D Honorary Custodian of Local Herbarium
E. B. SOUTHWICK, P H . D Custodian of Herbaceous Grounds
ETHEL ANSON S. PECKHAM. Honorary Curator, Iris and Narcissus Collections
JOHN R. BRINLEY, C. E Landscape Engineer
WALTER S. GROESBECK _ Clerk and Accountant
ARTHUR J. CORBETT Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds
JOURNAL
OF
The New York Botanical Garden
VOL. XXVIII SEPTEMBER, 1927 No. 333
REPORT OF THE KILLIP- SMITH BOTANICAL
EXPEDITION TO COLOMBIA, 1926- 19271
The trip which Mr. Albert C. Smith and I have just made to
Colombia followed very closely the plans outlined to the directors
of the cooperating institutions a year ago. These called for visit­ing
the Jacquin and Humboldt3 localities in the Cartagena area
1 A preliminary report to the heads of the cooperating institutions.
2 Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, Austrian baron of Dutch birth, was
born 16 February, 1727, at Leyden, and died at Vienna, 26 October,
1817, at the age of ninety. His earlier education was at Antwerp and
Louvain; he began his medical studies at Leyden, continued them at
Paris, and completed them at Vienna. Meanwhile he had decided to
devote his life to botanical science. In 1754 he was commissioned by
the Austrian emperor to visit the American tropics, to collect plants
for introduction to the royal gardens. He took with him as an assistant
Richard van der Schot, who long afterward became director of the
gardens at Schonbrunn. They sailed from Leghorn 1 January, 1755,
and landed at Martinique 28 June; Schot returned to Europe in Feb­ruary,
1756, but this island remained Jacquin's headquarters for a year
and a half, although meanwhile he had visited many of the other
islands of the Lesser Antilles, northward as far as St. Martin, and
southward as far as Grenada. In 1757 he spent considerable time on
the island of Curacao, and it was probably during that year that he
made his memorable visit to the mainland at Cartagena, where he dis­covered
so many interesting plants new to science. He was obliged to
confine his collecting to the immediate vicinity of the city, and the sev­eral
neighboring islands. The latter half of his stay in America was
spent in Cuba, Hispaniola, and Jamaica; he arrived once more in
Vienna in July, 1759. During the four years Jacquin had drawn, from
fresh specimens, hundreds of the plants collected, and had made at
least eight shipments of living plants. The rest of his life was devoted
in large measure to the study of these collections; among his 22 folio
volumes there are some accounted among the most valued treasures of
205
206
and for collecting in the Eastern Cordillera in the vicinity of Bu-caramanga,
Pamplona, and Ocafia, a region little known botani­cally.
Three weeks were spent about Cartagena and Turbaco, two
and a half months in the general vicinity of Bucaramanga, and one
month along the Colombian- Venezuelan border, east of Pamplona.
Because of lack of time and deterioration of collecting equip-the
great botanical libraries of the world. His herbarium went to
England, and is now at the British Museum of Natural History.
Friedrich Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt, German baron, was
born 14 September, 1769, at Berlin, and died there, 6 May, 1859, in his
ninetieth year. Aime Jacques Alexandre Bonpland ( ne Goujaud) was
born 23 August, 1773, at La Rochelle, France, and died at Restauracion,
Uruguay, 11 March, 1858, in his eighty- fifth year. Both were men of
wide culture, and were authors of important scientific books and
papers, but it is their joint work of exploration in tropical America in
the years 1799 to 1804 that has immortalized their names in the history
of science, and especially of botany. Sailing from La Coruria, Spain,
5 June, 1799, and spending ten days in the Canary Islands, they sighted
Tobago 13 July and arrived at Cumana, on the coast of Venezuela, 16
July. Keeping near the coast as far as La Guayra, they visited Ca­racas,
Cura, and Valencia, again reaching the coast at Puerto Cabello.
From this point they struck into the interior, returning to Cura, and
going thence as nearly due south as the ruggedness of the country
would permit, to San Fernando, on the banks of the Apure, where they
arrived 27 March, 1800. Taking a boat down the Apure and up the
Orinoco, it was at the junction of the Meta that they first sighted ter­ritory
now belonging to the republic of Colombia, and they skirted its
eastern boundary for more than two hundred miles, up the Orinoco
and Atabapo and down the Guainia, then regarded as the Rio Negro,
of which it is now considered a tributary. Turning back from San
Carlos, 10 May, they went up the Cassiquiare and down the Orinoco
all the way to Angostura, thence overland to Barcelona; quitting the
South American mainland forever, as they supposed, they sailed for
Havana, 24 November, 1800. After a few months in Cuba, however,
they returned to South America, landing at the mouth of the Sinu, on
the northern coast of Colombia, 25 March, 1801, and arriving at Car­tagena
five days later. From this point they traversed the heart of
Colombia from north to south, up the Magdalena and across the Cor­dilleras,
arriving in Quito, 6 January, 1802. From Ecuador they went
to Peru, spent about a year in Mexico, and after a brief visit in the
United States sailed for France, landing at Bordeaux 3 August, 1804.
The sumptuous volumes devoted to the reports of their voyage are
among the classics of natural science. The plants collected by them
are in the herbarium of the Paris museum, and in that of Willdenow
at the Berlin botanic garden.— JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART.
207
ment, it proved impracticable to visit both Ocana and the frontier
region; the latter was chosen because of its accessibility to Pam­plona
and because of the probability of its flora being more un­usual.
Other localities at which collections were made were Cala-mar
and Puerto Wilches, on the Magdalena River; Cucuta; Mara-caibo,
Venezuela; Curasao; Puerto Colombia, and Santa Marta.
About five months were spent in the field, the time given to the
various general localities being as follows:
Oct. 20. Sailed from New York.
Oct. 29- Nov. 22. Cartagena- Turbaco.
Nov. 23- Dec. 4. Magdalena Valley.
Dec. 5- Feb. 18. Dept. Santander, Bucaramanga as base.
Feb. 19- March 24. Dept. Norte de Santander, Pamplona as
base.
March 25- March 27. En route Cucuta to Curagao via
Maracaibo.
March 28- 31. Curasao.
April 2- 5. Puerto Colombia and Santa Marta.
April 15. Arrived at New York.
ACCOUNT OF TRIP
With Cartagena as a basis collections were made on Manga and
Tierrabomba islands, at Boca Grande, and on La Popa, a hill near
the city, all Jacquin localities. Cartagena is a rapidly changing
city, due to its growing importance as a port of entry and to the
fact that it is the terminus for the pipe line bringing oil from the
fields in the interior to the coast. Manga Island is now the prin­cipal
residential suburb of the city, and only the southern end,
perhaps 15 per cent, of the whole island, at all approaches a wild
state. Tierrabomba and part of Baru Islands have been taken
over by oil companies for use as ports. Little work has as yet
been done to change the character of these islands, and it would
seem that if further collecting is to be done here, it should be
undertaken in the very near future. In such case, however, the
project should be taken up directly with the Andian Corporation,
and the Tropical Oil Company, in New York, as they are in a
position to render valuable assistance.
Turbaco, 15 miles east of Cartagena, is at the crest of a range
of low hills, at an altitude of about 200 meters. Humboldt spent
20S
tZCu~ o-<£ or
FIGURE I. A sketch map, showing routes of the Pennell- Killip Ex­pedition
of 1922 and the Killip- Smith Expedition of 1926- 27.
The Rusby- Pcnncll Expedition of 1917 explored the Rio Sinu, por­tions
of the Quindio mountains, and the regions about Bogota and
Yillavicencio.
200.
ten days here before ascending the Magdalena River on his trip
to Quito, and it is the type locality for several species. Though a
considerable part of the land is at present under cultivation, dense
woods still remain to the westward, near Torrecilla, and nearly
impenetrable thickets cover much area. One day was spent at
Coloncito, an hacienda north of the town which would serve as an
excellent headquarters should further work be carried on here
Particularly interesting were the mud volcanoes, about nine miles
from Turbaco, where we made a fairly large collection. Arjona
and Soplaviento, two towns between Turbaco and the Magdalena,
were also visited. At Soplaviento Mr. Smith obtained many water
plants along the Dique, the canal connecting the river with Car­tagena.
A few plants were collected at Calamar, where the steamer was
boarded for the trip up the Magdalena. As it was an oil- burning
express boat, few stops were made, and the long delays to take on
wood, which have given botanists an opportunity to make hurried
collections, as well as to contract malaria, were avoided.
We spent a week at Puerto Wilches, about halfway between the
coast and Bogota, before taking the railroad on the trip into the
interior. Typical tropical jungles surround the town, well flooded
near the river at the time of our visit at the end of the rainy sea­son.
This jungle extends eastward nearly to the base of the
mountains, portions of it being reached by us at various stations
along the railroad.
On December 3 we left the river for the interior, proceeding by
rail to Provincia, near the foot of the mountains, and then by mule
to Bucaramanga. Little collecting was done on this two days'
trip, though two localities were noted en route, El Tambor and
Las Cruces, which would serve as excellent bases for further
work. Had we had opportunity we should have returned here,
though I do not believe the vegetation was markedly different
from that later found on the Mesa de los Santos.
Bucaramanga proved an ideal center of operations, and from
December 5 to February 16 this was our main headquarters.
Situated on a plateau which dropped abruptly to deep valleys on
three sides, the immediate vicinity was not especially interesting
botanically; but areas to the south, east, and north, from two to
four days of mule travel distant, were extremely rich. The Mesa
de los Santos, a broad plateau about 1,500 meters altitude, was
first visited. Although there was no range of altitude here, the
presence of dense woods, sandy fields, marshes, and rocky cliff's
within a few miles of our inn resulted in a wide diversity of plant
groups.
Our second trip from Bucaramanga took us to the isolated
region to the eastward about Las Vegas. With our base estab­lished
at a ranch at 2,600 meters, in the midst of a rich vegetation,
a two days' trip was made to the Paramo de las Vegas, the highest
FIGURE 2. Loading mules at Bucaramanga.
point of which was 3,8°° meters. As this was our first collecting
in the Eastern Cordillera through a large range of altitude, we
found the flora between the ranch and the paramo especially in­teresting,
consisting, as it did, of the wet forests of the subtropical
zone, the scrubby growth of the temperate, and the low, chiefly
herbaceous, vegetation of the paramo.
One of the main purposes of the expedition was to revisit cer­tain
Funck and Schlim and Linden* localities. Almost the only
3 Jean Jules Linden was born 3 February, 1817, in the city of Luxem­burg,
and died at Brussels, 12 January, 1898. In later life he was one
of the most famous of Belgian horticulturists, but before he was thirty
years old he had made three collecting trips to America under the aus­pices
of the Belgian government. The first, 1835- 37 ( he was only 20
upon his return home) was to Brazil; the second, 1837- 41, to Cuba,
Mexico, and Central America. On both of these expeditions he was
accompanied by Nicolas Funck ( 1816- 1896) as artist, and Auguste
Boniface Ghiesbreght ( 1810- 1893) as zoologist; both Funck and Gh, ies-breght
afterward became well known as plant- collectors. Linden's
third trip was devoted almost exclusively to Venezuela and Colombia;
this time he was accompanied by his half- brother, Louis Joseph
Schlim. Arriving at La Guayra, 27 December, 1841, they spent the
first few months in the vicinity of Caracas, starting for the interior
S May. Their route lay through Valencia, Puerto Cabello, Barquisi-meto,
and Merida, entering Colombia at San Jose de Cucuta, and con­tinuing
by way of Pamplona, Socorro, Velez, and Tunja to Bogota,
where they arrived at the end of October, 1842. Here they spent two
months, and then descended into the valley of the Magdalena, and
fixed their headquarters at Ibague, from which they extended their
trips in every direction, once crossing by Quindio pass to Cartago,
Buga, and thei shore of the Pacific. From Ibague they returned,
through Ambalema and Honda, to Bogota, whence they retraced their
incoming steps as far as Merida, Venezuela, and returned thence by a
different route to Caracas, where they arrived 17 August, 1843. Leav­ing
La Guayra 16 November, they spent six weeks at Puerto Cabello,
and then went to Rio Hacha, on the coast of Colombia. Here their
party was augmented by the governor and several other prominent
citizens, and they spent several weeks exploring the Santa Marta
mountains, climbing to the summit of the Nevado ( 4,800 meters).
Sailing from Rio> Hacha 4 March, 1844, they returned to Europe
through Jamaica, Cuba, and the United States, arriving at home in
February, 1845. After his ten years of fruitful exploration, Linden
formed an establishment devoted primarily to the introduction of new
plants, and sent collectors into all parts of the world; among these
were Funck and Schlim, who collected for him in Colombia.
Nicolas Funck was born in 1816, in Luxemburg, and died there 10
August, 1896. He was with Linden on his journeys from 1835 to 1841,
and went with him to La Guayra in 1841; they separated, however, at
Caracas, in May, 1842. Funck spent most of the time for the next year
in eastern Venezuela, but in 1843 he went to Santa Marta in Colombia,
and collected in the neighboring mountains; it was probably his report
that led Linden to visit them later in the same year. Upon Linden's
return from Colombia to Caracas, they spent a few weeks together,
and went together to Puerto Cabello, where Funck took ship for Ham­burg.
In October, 1845, Funck and Schlim started on a collecting trip
in the . interests of Linden's newly established horticultural concern.
They first explored the vicinities of Caracas, Carabobo, Barquisimeto,
Trujillo, Maracaibo, and Merida, in Venezuela; then they visited the
neighborhood of Chinacota and Pamplona in Colombia, near the Vene­zuelan
border, and Funck took their collections by water from San
Jose de Cucuta to Maracaibo and thence to Europe, in 1847. Funck
was afterward director of the zoological gardens at Brussels and
collecting done in the Eastern Cordillera north of the Bogota
area has been that of these European botanists about the middle
of the last century. " La Baja, Province of Pamplona" and
" Province of Ocana " repeatedly appear in reports on these col­lections.
The former Province of Pamplona is at present divided
between the departments of Santander and Norte de Santander,
the part west of the Divide being placed in the Department of
Santander. The greater part of the Province of Ocana is in the
FIGURE 3. Mud volcanoes of Turbaco.
Department of Norte de Santander. La Baja formerly was the
principal town of what is to- day the general Bucaramanga region;
it now consists of three or four houses and many ruins. Doubt­less
the town served as main headquarters for these botanists,
their collections being made over a rather wide area.
Cologne, and in 1879 retired to his native place, where he spent the
remainder of his life.
Lou, is Joseph Schlim, when he was left in Colombia by Funck,
made La Baja, near Pamplona, his headquarters for more than a year,
but all his collections in this region were lost by a shipwreck at the
mouth of the Magdalena. He subsequently collected for a long time
in the neighborhood of Ocana, and, descending the Magdalena, spent
several months in the Santa Marta mountains shortly before his
return to Europe in August, 1852.— JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART.
213
The Surata Valley, which was followed up from Bucaramanga
to Surata, our first objective in the La Baja region, was largely
arid cactus country. North of Surata densely wooded valleys
gave us quite a different type of vegetation. Our main headquar­ters
were established at California, about four miles south of La
Baja. From this point Mr. Smith made a week's trip to the
region about Vetas, visiting the paramos of Vetas, Santurban,
Mogorotoco, Rico, and Frailejonale. The following week I spent
in the vicinity of La Baja, collecting on the paramos of Las
FIGURE 4. Edge of the Mesa de los Santos, looking towards mountains
of Las Vegas.
Puentes, Las Coloradas, and Romeral. Following a different
route back to Bucaramanga, Mr. Smith found an exceptionally
rich vegetation in the neighborhood of Charta, obtaining here 425
collection numbers.
Our work in the general region of Bucaramanga having been
completed, we had the choice of proceeding north to Ocana ( re­turning
to the coast by the Magdalena River) or east to Pam­plona
and the Venezuelan border. Although there were many
historic localities near Ocana which we should have liked to visit,
the wholly unexplored eastern part appealed to us more.
Mention should be made of the many courtesies extended to
the expedition by officials of the Department of Santander and
214
the citizens of Bucaramanga. The governor assigned a school
building to us for headquarters, assisted in procuring mules and
] ' • •
•~ r$ « -*\-
' fir
^? H
m - J.
* '•" i.
* § *} '$' 4
1
1 ""• 1-;;.
' t
FIGURE 5. A tall columnar cactus in the Surata Valley,
the services of a peon, placed prison gangs at our disposal to move
luggage, and supplied us with letters of introduction to leading
citizens of towns we were to visit. This valuable assistance repre-
sents only a part of the much appreciated help which we received
throughout our trip. Letters which the Colombian Minister at
Washington gave us were of inestimable value on many occa­sions.
Representatives of the Singer Sewing Machine Company
aided in the shipment of baggage, and generously acted as con­signees
for receiving at Cartagena and forwarding to Xew York
boxes of dried specimens we sent from the interior.
The road from Bucaramanga eastward took us through alter­nately
wooded and open valleys upward to the vast Paramo of
Santurban— the bleak region that so effectively cuts off the north­eastern
part of Colombia from the rest of the country—- across
the paramo and down through Mutiscua, in a generally arid
region, to Pamplona. The part of the paramo through which the
trail passed apparently was too high— 4,200 to 4,500 meters— for
good collecting, but at El Roble and Tona, on the western side,
and on the descent to Pamplona, many interesting things were
discovered.
In the immediate vicinity of Pamplona nearly all the land had
been cleared so we decided to move on to Toledo, nearly due east­ward
and only a few miles from the Venezuelan border. On the
way there we passed through such interesting country that we
frequently were obliged to alter our schedule and spend an extra
day or two, with an Indian hut or an isolated posada as a base.
After two weeks spent at Toledo we returned to Pamplona by
way of the Paramo del Hatico.
As the time limit on our return tickets to Xew York had nearly
expired, we went from Pamplona to Puerto Colombia by the
quickest route, via Cucuta, Maracaibo, and Curacao, making small
collections at Chinacota and La Esmeralda ( between Pamplona
and Cucuta) and at Curacao and Santa Marta.
I cannot conclude this review of the trip without expressing my
very keen appreciation of the work done by Mr. Smith. A de­lightful
traveling companion, full of enthusiasm, he acquired, in
an amazingly short time, a most useful knowledge of tropical plant
groups, collected unceasingly, and developed marked ability in the
art of making herbarium specimens. I trust that he has further
opportunity for botanical field work.
2l6
COLLECTIONS
Approximately 7,150 numbers were collected, the principal
groups being represented as follows:
Lower cryptogams 506 Ericaceae ( part) 92
Ferns 780 Thibaudia ( and allies) . . . 65
Araceae 74 Convolvulaceae Jj
Orchidaceae 286 Cordiae 66
Piperaceae 226 Solanaceae 204
Loranthaceae 57 Rubiaceae 216
Mimosaceae and Caesalpi- Centropogon ( and allies). 89
niaceae 208 Fupatorieae 221
Monnina 32 All other Compositae . . . . 475
Passirloraceae 118
Woody plants constitute about 36 per cent, of the collection.
The number collected at each of the principal localities follows:
Cartagena- Turbaco- Calamar 721
Puerto Wilches 219
Mesa de los Santos 528
Las Vegas 741
Vetas, California, Surata, La Baja, and Charta . . 3,000
Bucaramanga to Pamplona 424
Toledo, and en route 975
Pamplona to Cucuta 186
Curacao 38
Puerto Colombia and Santa Marta 175
The distribution of the material among the cooperating institu­tions
will follow in general the plan adopted by Dr. Pennell in the
case of our 1922 collection. Mr. Smith recently spent ten days in
Washington, giving valuable assistance in laying out sets. It is
hoped that distribution to the cooperating institutions can be made
by early fall.
PHOTOGRAPHIC WORK
Photographs of about 100 woody plants were taken. Prints
will be distributed with the corresponding specimens in the sets
for The New York Botanical Garden, the Gray Herbarium, and
the National Museum. These negatives will then be deposited at
the Arnold Arboretum, in accordance with an understanding with
Dr. Sargent. Numerous photographs of the general vegetation
and of the life of the country were also taken; these will be kept
217
at the National Museum, and are, of course, available to the other
institutions.
FINANCES
The attached statement shows the receipts and nature of the
disbursements; an itemized statement is on file here. Changes in
conditions in Colombia within the past five years resulted in a
larger expenditure for various items than was anticipated at the
time the project was first outlined. That we were able to accom-
FIGURE 6. Paramo of Santurban, showing frailejones.
plish the work substantially within the amount originally sub­scribed
was largely due to the generosity of Mr. Cutter, President
of the United Fruit Company, in giving the expedition free trans­portation
to and from Colombia. The Academy of Natural Sci­ences,
Philadelphia, lent the fibre- board valises which had proved
so serviceable in 1922, permitting a saving of at least $ 75.00. Pro­fessor
Stevens, of the University of Illinois, gave us his equip­ment
for drying specimens. The National Museum supplied all
the driers, corrugated boards, and paper used on the trip, as well
as many other supplies incident to collecting. The National Mu­seum
is also having printed the necessary 40,000 labels ( nearly
100 forms).
The difference between cost and selling prices of mules may
seem abnormally high, but we were obliged to buy animals at
2l8
Bucaramanga, a city dependent wholly on mules for freight trans­portation,
where prices have been greatly influenced by oil and
coffee booms, and to sell them in Cucuta, the junction point of
three railroads and several automobile roads.
A small additional expense in connection with labeling and pre­paring
the sets for distribution I believe is justifiable. In order
that the specimens may be available for study as promptly as pos­sible
and may be clearly labeled, I propose to engage stenographic
assistance. A memorandum of this will be sent the institutions at
the time the sets are distributed.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT
Receipts
New York Botanical Garden $ 1000.00
Gray Herbarium, of Harvard University 600.00
Arnold Arboretum, of Harvard University 600.00
Mr. Oakes Ames 600.00
Mr. Ellsworth P. Killip 150.00
$ 2950.00
Disbursements
Transportation ( railroad, boat) $ 358- 34
Transportation ( mule)
Purchase of mules $ 1070.00
Credit, sale of mules 530- 00
$ 540.00
Purchase equipment S1^ 0
Rent, extra mules 155- 35
Keep of mules 14382
890.67
Baggage transfer 175- 49
Board and lodging 653.68
Provisions 30.66
Kerosene 112.00
Equipment
Cost $ 215.63
Credit sale 15.00
200.63
Cab and auto hire 40.30
Help
Wages, regular peon $ 105.00
Keep, regular peon 56.84
Extra men 63.69
225.53
Photographic work
Supplies $ 48.74
Developing 17.10
65.84
Customs and immigration fees 36.80
Shipment specimens to coast 128.07
Postage and miscellany 24.61
$ 2942.62
Balance $ 7.38
FUTURE WORK I N COLOMBIA
The three expeditions which have gone into Colombia since the
project for the botanical exploration of northern South America
was undertaken ten years ago have brought back nearly 20,000 col­lection
numbers. The Pacific slope has been visited at central and
southern points; the Cauca Valley at northern, central, and south­ern;
the Central Cordillera at central and southern; the Magda­lena
Valley at several points between Giradot and the coast; the
Eastern Cordillera at northern and central points; the Atlantic
coastal region at Cartagena, Barranquilla, and Santa Marta. More
thorough work should be done in at least two of these general
areas. In the short time that he was able to spend on the Cerro
Tatama, Dr. Pennell collected a large number of new species.
Other isolated peaks in this northern part of the Western Andes
should be visited. Similarly, the day and a half I spent in the
Micay region, in the southern part of the Pacific slope, resulted
in the collection of such a large number of new species and genera
that without doubt this whole region, from the Micay river south
to the Ecuador boundary and east to Pasto, would justify careful
exploration.
To round out the work in Colombia so that a comprehensive
flora of the country may be prepared, collections should be made
in three additional areas:
1. The Santa Marta mountains above 6,000 feet altitude.
This is an isolated mountain mass with no apparent connection
with the main Cordilleras. There is every indication that its flora
is a local one, and doubtless many new species would result from
work there. Plerbert H. Smith apparently confined his collecting
to lower altitudes and the vegetation between 6,000 feet and snow­line
is almost unknown.
2. The Atrato region. The forested area adjacent to Panama
is very scantily represented in herbaria. Because of its geograph­ical
position valuable data could doubtless be obtained as to distri­bution
of species.
3. Southeastern Colombia. Our two weeks' work at Toledo,
near the Venezuelan border, led to the belief that the eastern
FIGURE 7. Tree of the Compositae family on the Paramo Romeral.
slopes of the Eastern Cordillera, including the Plains of Casanare
and the Sierra Nevada de Cocui, would prove remarkably pro­ductive.
The region could best be reached by Maracaibo and Cu­cuta,
the party going from Cocui southeast to Orocue, on the Meta
River, then down this river and the Orinoco to the coast, thus
including a preliminary survey of the untouched southeastern half
of the Republic. To attempt to cover this area thoroughly in the
immediate future is almost hopeless, but I believe the trip here
outlined would prove most advantageous.
ELLSWORTH P. KILLIP.
UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM.
CACTI*
Cacti are confined naturally to America, and although most
abundantly developed, both in size and numbers, in and near the
American tropics, they are not confined to those regions. In the
north- temperate zone the geographic ranges of a few kinds of
prickly- pears ( Opuntia) extend up into southern Canada, while
in the south- temperate zone many kinds of cacti are found in
Chile and Argentina. The occurrence of a few species of a cer­tain
genus ( Rhipsalis) in Africa is attributed to the activities of
migratory birds which are ravenously fond of such provender and
thus assist in the wide dispersal of the cactus seeds. These par­ticular
plants are mistletoe- like both in habit and in the small pel­lucid
glutinous fruits. A parallel example of distribution has
rather recently come to light in southern Florida. The birds usu­ally
alight near the tips of branches of trees, and there the mis­tletoe-
like cactus ( Rhipsalis)— sometimes called pencil- cactus, on
account of the slender pencil- like joints of the stem— grows on
the oak trees, planted there doubtless by migratory birds coming
up from the West Indies where the pencil- cactus in question,
Rhipsalis Cassutha, is so plentiful in the forests.
The unusual characteristics of the cacti were promptly appre­ciated
by the discoverers of the New World, for several kinds of
flat- jointed cacti ( Opuntiae) were taken back to the Old World
by the European expeditioners in early post- Columbian times,
and became naturalized in the Mediterranean region. Here they
have since maintained a foothold. Again, towards the end of the
last century, other kinds, presumably from Mexico and South
America, were carried to Australia. But here, carelessly thrown
away by settlers, these plant- strangers not only promptly became
naturalized but overran the land like wild- fire, spreading both by
vegetative parts and by seeds, thus furnishing a conspicuous ex­ample
of how well the group had perfected its methods of propa­gation.
They have already taken possession of millions of acres.
The end is not in sight. To date, having defied all methods of
extermination, they are spreading into new fields, entailing great
financial losses.
* Abstract of a lecture and demonstration given in Conservatory
Range No. 2 of The New York Botanical Garden on Saturday after­noon,
January 29, 1927.
The great cactus centers are in the southwestern United States,
in Mexico, in parts of South America, and in the West Indies.
New York lies in one of the minor cactus areas— the eastern
Coastal Plain, extending from Massachusetts to Florida. The
real extent of this cactus field was not realized until lately. 1
The ancestry of the cacti is obscure— lost, together with much
similar matter, in the wreckage of the later geologic times. There
is not even an indication of their remote ancestors preserved as
fossils. We may safely assume that during the wide- spread
destruction of more recent geologic times, the cacti were safely
preserved in the highlands, while those in the lowlands succumbed.
Thus, the present cactus- population of the coastwise region and
coastal plains was, evidently, derived from highland ancestors.
The cacti, in comparison with what we may term ordinary
plants-— herbaceous and woody— present a series of irregularities
— exceptions to regular behavior in function and structure. They
represent a kind of intermediate state. They are really neither
herbs nor shrubs or trees. They resemble, on the whole, the latter
category, but the wood is so scant and the soft tissue so abundant
that, in bulk of one kind of tissue, they are herbaceous.
Functionally considered, several closely associated conditions
stand out prominently. One of the most striking characteristics
of cacti is the absence of leaves in the vast majority of the kinds.
As deserts became the typical homes of cacti, leaves would be a
distinct detriment to the plant, under the normal conditions exist­ing
there, for the moisture would be given off from the plant
more rapidly than the roots could supply it from the scant reserve
in the soil. So, leaves were in most cases long ago dispensed with,
and the transpiration area reduced to the surface of the stem,
which in all respects now functions as a leaf. Thus such nour­ishment
as the plant can secure is used to build up stem- tissue,
and ultimately flowers and fruits. The lack of leaves may ac­count,
at least in part, for the unusually large size or great num­ber
of flowers and fruits in proportion to the size of the plant or
stem. In addition, the transpiration of moisture is also partly
regulated— reduced or accelerated— from within the stem. The
sap or cell- content is largely mucilaginous, and latex, or milk, is
1 See Journal of The New York Botanical Garden 26: 241- 258, 265-
285. 1925.
223
also sometimes present. The condition of this gummy cell- sap,
regulated according to external conditions, when thicker checks
transpiration and when thinner accelerates it accordingly. In
addition, in case a plant is wounded, this mucilage promptly
spreads a coating over the exposed tissues, and then forms a callus
by which serious infection is prevented from gaining access to
the internal tissues of the plant.
Cactus plants are often very adaptive to different kinds of habi­tats—
even crossing the gap between the terrestrial and the epi­phytic.
The prickly- pear ( Opuntia), prickly- apple ( Harrisia),
and dildoe ( Acanthocereus) will grow on the limbs of broad­leaved
trees in dry- land regions where seeds have been accident­ally
planted by birds, or in swampy regions where their normal
habitat is in the trees above the ground which is too continuously
wet to permit their roots to function properly.
Another group worthy of mention is semi- epiphytic, or more
strictly speaking, petrophytic. This condition is well illustrated
by the two tree- cacti ( Cephalocereus) of the Florida Keys. Their
habitat provides ( or allows) boundless room for the aerial parts,
but very little for the subterranean. The ponderous succulent
trees grow on the plate- like surface of the oolitic limestone in the
case of Cephalocereus Deeringii, and of the coral- limestone in the
case of C. keyensis. The root- system of these plants compared
with the aerial parts is almost negligible. Whatever soil is pres­ent
to cover the roots is largely humus. Very likely a friendly
mycorhiza helps in the remarkable growth of the plant.
Structurally considered, the cactus plant exhibits unusual forms
from seed to fruit. The several characteristic structures, gross
and fine, vegetative or floral, indicate a long and mighty struggle
of the family to maintain itself against extinction. As a group
and individually the plants have fortified themselves to resist and
overcome adverse environments, have made trebly sure the propa­gation
and maintenance of their kinds. Succulent tissues pre­dominate
from the roots to the fruits.
For example, the roots, the underground parts, of slender cal­iber
often grow to great lengths in search of moisture and nour­ishment.
In more favorable habitats the caliber of the roots
increases and the length diminishes, sometimes to such a degree
that they form thick, even globular, tuber- like structures. These
224
subterranean succulent structures, whether attached to or sepa­rated
from the parent plant, may give rise to a new plant.
The stems, the aerial parts— varying from cord- like to colum­nar,
barrel- like, tub- like, bowl- shaped, or pad- like— are abundantly
stored with water and nourishment, and thus not only favorably
adapted for resisting and surviving destructive desert conditions,
under which most of them grow, but also for making possible a
method of vegetative propagation, additional to the roots. The
stems are either continuous or jointed. A stem or a section-
" joint " thrown to the ground may give rise to new plants. The
stems are often spine- armed, with the spines sometimes developed
to such a degree that they hide the stems. The armament aids in
increasing vegetative propagation, notwithstanding the fact that
on first thought it might seem to diminish it as an agent to warn
and keep animals away. However, the juicy stem or the enticing
fruit lures many an animal to be a mechanical broadcaster of
cactus plants. The tips of the spines are more or less barbed and
although they penetrate the skin of the carrier with ease, they will
maintain a tenacious hold in an animal's hide and may be carried
and planted far from the parent.
Here may be mentioned the singular mechanics of the cactus
stem— a mechanism to insure the longer life of the individual.
For example, in the case of the columnar or cereoid types, with
their mass of soft watery tissues, we do not find the stem round
and even, but strongly, often copiously ribbed. The ribs, of
course, give the axis added strength. On the other hand, the
" joints " of the opuntioid kinds, that is, those plants with flat­tened
internodes—" pads," as they are often called— are often
placed successively criss- cross so that only about half the surface
of the plant is exposed to the wind whichever way it may blow.
As mentioned above, the leaves have, in most cases, become
rudimentary or been eliminated, the bark of the stem and branches
and the armament functioning for the leaves as far as is necessary.
On the other hand, flowers and fruits are, in the present- day
cacti, often produced in unusual quantities or bulk, compared with
the vegetative part of the plant.
The flowers, usually conspicuous, often very showy, are espe­cially
adapted to insure propagation, in this instance by seeds.
The flower may be described as funnelform, the tube ( hy­panthium)
and limb ( perianth) varying almost infinitely in pro-
225
portions of form and size. The showy perianth, either diurnal or
nocturnal, white or of all shades of colors, except blue, is attrac­tive
to insects. Within are numerous, often almost myriad, sta­mens,
whose anthers await the insect visitors with pollen ever
ready to be transferred to the stigmas. The flowers, so unusual,
in connection with the parts that bear them, render cacti very
important horticultural subjects, whether used in the open in
warm climates or under glass in the colder climes.
The fruits, too, are useful in ornamental gardening. These are
of a multitude of shapes and sizes— mainly pear- shaped, club-shaped,
barrel- shaped, egg- shaped, and globular. They exhibit
shades of nearly all colors, except blue, and are dull or shiny.
They are unarmed or spine- armed, and sometimes hairy. Unlike
the flowers, which are short- lived, frequently only a day or a
night, the fruits are usually long- persistent. Fresh and cured
cactus- fruits have formed a very important, in fact almost indis­pensable,
food in the life of aboriginal man in America since
times remote. Take, for example, two instructive quotations from
brave Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, written in the early part of
the sixteenth century:
" In order to cheer us, they would tell us not to dispair, since
we would have tunas [ prickly- pears] very soon and eat much and
drink their juice and get big stomachs and be merry, contented
and without hunger.''
" During all the time we ate tunas [ prickly- pears] we felt
thirsty. To allay our thirst we drank the juice of the fruit, pour­ing
it first into a pit which we dug in the soil, and when that was
full we drank to satisfaction. The Indians do it in that way, out
of lack of vessels. The juice is sweet and has the color of must.
There are many kinds of tunas, and some very good ones, al­though
to me all tasted well alike, hunger never leaving me time to
select, or stop to think which ones were better."
It is a description that would almost fit certain tribes and sea­sons
in America to- day— especially in the desert reaches of our
own Southwest and Mexico. Some of the larger prickly- pears are
gathered from both wild and cultivated plants, in great quantities
and consumed in many of the larger cities.
And need we mention that the juice of some of the fruits of
cacti is made into a primitive alcoholic drink? Other kinds fur­nish
primitive man with a drug and a narcotic. This is notably
226
the case in the so- called " mescal button "— not to be confused
with the mescal magueys of Mexico. The use of the mescal but­ton,
or peyote ( Lophophora), among the Indians has its counter­part
in our own present narcotic problem. Among some tribes it
is even the basis of a religious cult.
As the " fruits " of the prickly- pear are mainly a modified
" joint " or " pad," it may be proper to refer here to the use of
these succulent stems as a vegetable in the cuisine of some present-day
semiaboriginal peoples, and to refer again to two quotations
from de Vaca which record that,
" We lost the trail and found ourselves in a big forest, where
we gathered plenty of leaves [ pads] of tunas which we roasted
that same night in an oven made by ourselves, and so much heat
did we give them that in the morning they were fit to be eaten."
Also,
" and gave us of what they had to eat, which were leaves [ pads]
of tunas and green tunas baked."
The cactus confection made by impregnating the pulp of some
of the larger kinds with sugar is well known. The cactus also
serves as a forage plant for animals, wild and tame, when pas­turage
is lacking, in which case spineless or almost spineless
plants have been selected or in the case of very spiny plants the
armament is burned off prior to feeding. The spines themselves,
in the case of some species, have been used as needles for phono­graphs
and similar instruments.
Nor was only the fruit itself important. Among various primi­tive
folk the seeds were— and still are— ground up for flour, and
like the pulp of the fruits they are sometimes used as a coloring-agent
or dye. In this connection it may be mentioned that various
kinds of cactus plants serve as hosts for the cochineal scale- insect,
the female of which yields a brilliant scarlet dye, and is also used
medicinally.
Of late the cactus has come into its own as an elite house plant.
Many a city apartment has a small cactus garden— in a large dish
or a tray— comprising living specimens of the dwarf, often rarer
species of our deserts. This fad may be useful in awakening the
interest of the children of the urban deserts in plants, but, unfor­tunately,
it has already resulted in the extinction of some colonies
of the rarer species of our glorious unpeopled deserts.
JOHN K. SMALL.
TWO NATIVE BIGENF. RIC HYBRIDS
For over 2$ years there have been in the herbarium of The
New York Botanical Garden two sheets of a peculiar shrub of the
Apple Family. They were collected in 1901 and 1902 by Brother
Louis Arsene at a place east of Chapeau, on the French island of
Miquelon, off the south shore of Newfoundland. In a note on the
older sheet, the discoverer has made the statement that it is a
very rare plant and that it has been collected only at the locality
mentioned. On the other sheet is given the information that it
grows 1- 2.5 m- nigh- It represents without much doubt a bi-generic
hybrid of the American Mountain Ash, Sorbus americana
Marsh., and a Chokeberry, Aronia atropurpurea Britton. Its
leaves are 2- 7 cm. long, with the texture, pubescence, and tooth­ing
of the Chokeberry, but all, except a few of tlie earliest ones,
have the lower portion pinnate, and the upper portion cleft or
lobed, with the terminal segment large, thus approaching in shape
those of the other parent. The inflorescence and flowers resemble
those of Aronia, the former being small and with ascending
branches. ( See FIGURE A.)
The other bigeneric hybrid is represented by a sheet in the her­barium
of the University of Minnesota. It was collected by Wil­liam
C. Cusick on mountain sides near Cornucopia, Oregon. The
sheet bears the number 1380 and is erroneously labeled Pyrus
sambucifolia. The label states also that it is a small straggling
shrub. It is probably a hybrid between the Western Mountain
Ash, Sorbus occidentalis, and a species of Juneberry, Amelan-chier.
The leaves have the light green color of S. occidentalis,
but are thinner. Some of the earlier leaves are simple, but the
rest are pinnate below, with 2 or 3 pairs of leaflets, which are like
those of 5". occidentalis, entire- margined below and dentate
towards the apex. The terminal leaflet is much larger, broader,
more toothed, and often lobed. The inflorescence is compound
as in Sorbus, but the young fruit resembles that of Amelanchier.
It is hard to tell which species of Amelanchier is the other parent,
as the leaves ( and also the leaflets) are more acute than in any of
the Oregon species of the genus. I think that A. florida Lindl.,
however, is the most likely one, having more oblong leaves than
the rest. ( See FIGURE B.)
P. A. RYDBERG.
FIGURE A. Aronia atropurpurea X Sorbus americana.
FIGURE B. Amelanchier floridaC?) X Sorbus occidentalis.
229
BOTANIZING IN THE MOUNTAINS OF COLORADO1
Several years ago the speaker had the privilege of spending a
summer botanizing in the high mountains of Colorado. It is dif­ficult
for one living in the east to get a very clear idea of the size
of some of these western states and to realize that Colorado is
twice the size of the State of New York or as large as the whole
of New England with the state of Indiana added.
We think of Colorado as a mountainous state, but as a matter
of fact, one- third of this state consists of level and for the most
part arid plains. After a trip from Chicago to Denver through
the fertile valleys of the Mississippi and the arid plains of western
Nebraska and eastern Colorado, one is able to appreciate more
fully the significance of the term " wide expanses of the west"
and many would be interested in finding at the foot of the Rockies
one of the most thriving inland cities of America, the city of Den­ver,
which was used as our headquarters during our stay in
Colorado.
One of the first and most interesting mountain expeditions
made was over the so- called Moffat Road, a road which was
planned many years ago by David Moffat, one of the pioneers of
Colorado, with the dream of connecting Denver and Salt Lake
City by more direct route and opening up western Colorado, one
of the most extensive undeveloped portions of the United States.
At the time of our visit to Colorado this road had been completed
just over the crest of the mountains and was operated as one of
the most beautiful scenic railroads in America.
A temporary collecting base was established in Tolland, at an
elevation of nearly nine thousand feet. From this point expedi­tions
were made in various directions through the mountains and
many interesting collections of fungi obtained. Since our visit to
Colorado the builders of this scenic railroad have conceived and
executed the plan of boring through the mountains for a distance
of more than six miles in order to eliminate twenty- three miles
of track and the difficulties of traversing the mountains during
the winter season. This tunnel, completed during the past year,
is the longest railroad tunnel in America.
1 Abstract of an illustrated lecture given at The New York Botan­ical
Garden on Saturday afternoon, June 18, 1927.
230
The most extensive collecting trip of our entire stay in Colo­rado
was in the Geneva Creek Canyon, a branch of the Piatt
River Canyon. This is reached by taking the narrow- gauge line
of the Colorado and Southern Railway, which ascends the canyon
by keeping close to the river, a swift- flowing clear stream which
as it falls over the rocks adds much to the beauty of the natural
scenery of the canyon. Leaving Denver in the morning, we ar­rived
at Grant about noon, a distance of nearly one hundred miles
from Denver.
From this point we ascended the Geneva Creek Canyon by team
to a distance of three miles. Here between two mountain streams
is a small park in which a number of log cabins had been built to
serve as temporary homes for summer resorters, and in one of
these cabins we made our home for ten days. Our cabin was sur­rounded
by numerous gulches and mountain streams and the most
of our collecting was confined to these, since the mountain sides
were too dry to aiford much outside of a few of the larger woody
fungi. The small creeks which flowed through these gulches
were bordered with mossy bogs which furnished many species of
the smaller fleshy fungi.
We extended our collecting trips up the canyon and on one
occasion reached the crest of the mountain- range at a distance of
from twelve to fifteen miles from our cabin and here attained an
elevation of between 13,000 and 14,000 feet. Above timberline the
conditions were not favorable for collecting fungi, as would nat­urally
be supposed; but the speaker was surprised to find a few
fleshy cup- fungi in mossy places even at some distance above
snow- line. At the crest of the mountain- range vegetation of all
kinds was very scant.
One of the most interesting spots visited in the vicinity of our
cabin was Geneva Park. The term park as here used applies to
any level valley between mountain- ranges. Geneva Park, which
was located about three miles above our cabin, is at an elevation
of between 9,000 and 10,000 feet and covers an area five to seven
miles long and one to two miles wide. The approach leading to
the park is very steep and rocky and probably represents the ter­minal
moraine of a local glacier. The park would then result
from the filling in of this natural reservoir with the wash from
the mountain sides above. The entire region is surrounded by
231
mountains, except the comparatively narrow pass which furnishes
an outlet for the creek which flows through it. The land itself is
nearly level and the soil is swampy and furnishes a good sub­stratum
for fungi.
The lecture in which the experiences of this expedition were
outlined in detail was well illustrated with numerous slides show­ing
both the desert and mountain scenery of our Rocky Mountain
state. While the object of the excursion was to collect and study
the fungi of the region, some attention was also given to the
higher plants and numerous colored slides were used to illustrate
the gorgeous colors of the mountain flora.
FRED J. SEAVER.
RELATION OF SOILS TO PLANT GROWTH1
The speaker emphasized the close inter- relation between the
soil, climate, and vegetation. Thus, in the United States, the
various crop regions, such as the cotton belt or the wheat belt, are
associated with fairly definite climatic zones and soil types.
The most important single factor in crop growth is the moisture
in the soil. On the average about 400 ounces of water must be
supplied to the plant for each ounce of dry material produced.
Recent research has shown that the power of the soil to draw up
water from below for the plant roots is much less than was for­merly
supposed, a conclusion that emphasizes the necessity of
conserving the moisture in the top two or three feet of soil. This
may be done by the incorporation of organic material such as
barnyard manure, etc., and by maintaining a loose mulch of dried
soil on the surface, which acts as a blanket and prevents evapora­tion.
It is also necessary to keep the soil in a good physical con­dition,
or tilth, so that the plant rootlets can readily ramify and
penetrate the interstices of the soil in search of moisture. A good
physical condition also encourages the activities of the soil micro­organisms
whose functions are to break down the residues of
vegetation and manures into simpler compounds that plants can
1 Abstract of an illustrated lecture by the Assistant Director of the
Rothamsted Experimental Station, England, given at The New York
Botanical Garden on Saturday afternoon, June 4, 1927.
232
assimilate. These lowly forms of life— bacteria and fungi— are
present in huge numbers in fertile soil. In one teaspoonful of
soil the number of bacteria alone is several times greater than the
entire population of the United States. The study of the soil
population and its activities absorbs much of the activities of all
agricultural experiment stations. The subject is highly complex,
but it is possible that in the future methods of beneficial control
will be evolved that will be as epoch- making for agriculture as
was the introduction of artificial fertilizers.
The lecture was illustrated with lantern slides, which included
photographs of some of the famous experimental fields at Roth­amsted
and a series of colored reproductions taken mainly from
medieval tapestries and illuminated manuscripts showing the de­velopment
of cultivation implements from their crude prehistoric
form to their present pattern.
B. A. KEEN.
NOTES ON FLORIDA MOSSES1
The two Florida mosses exhibited were collected by Mr. Rapp
in the vicinity of Sanford, a town situated on Lake Monroe,
scarcely half way down the peninsular and some 30 miles inland
from the Atlantic Ocean. This region has furnished a good many
interesting species obtained by the same collector, although at an
elevation of only a few feet above the ocean. The entire state,
indeed, has no mountains and its highest hills have an altitude of
only some 300 feet. Possibly the walls of sink- holes and more or
less underground streams furnish shade and moisture somewhat
similar to conditions in mountain canyons, thus permitting an
unusual abundance and variety in the moss flora for so flat a
country.
The first specimen shown ranks among the smallest of our
mosses. On the bit of rock scarcely one- half inch square are
doubtless 150 or more individual plants varying from one- half to
one millimeter high and appearing rather like a greenish felt over
the surface. The genus represented is Splachnobryum, of which
1 Abstract of a report presented at the Conference of the Scientific
Staff and Registered Students of The New York Botanical Garden on
February 2, 1927.
233
there are some 34 described species, rather widely scattered over
the world except in Europe, where no species has yet been found
native. The genus was first observed in the United States grow­ing
on flower pots containing tropical plants, the original home
of this particular species being unknown. Another species, pre­viously
known in Mexico, has recently been collected in Arizona
by Bartram, while this Florida species makes the third found in
the United States. The plants of this last are rather bud- like,
with a few broadly ovate to oblong leaves, their margins crenulate
nearly all round by the somewhat inflated cells. The longer leaves
measure about one- third millimeter in length.
The second moss shown was of a very different class, ranking
among the larger members of its genus and forming extensive
green mats over the earth, with trailing stems several centimeters
long. It is a species of 0xyrrhynchium, nearest related to 0. spe­ciosum
of Europe, found rarely in Britain and in some of the
central and southern alpine regions. The genus is characterized
among other things by having a rough seta and the nerve of the
leaf ending in a thorn- like point a little below the apex of the leaf
on the under side. The Florida plant, although very similar to
the European at first glance, seems constantly to differ slightly in
the relatively shorter and broader stem- leaves and longer- pointed
perichaetial leaves.
R. S. WILLIAMS.
PUBLIC LECTURES DURING SEPTEMBER AND
OCTOBER
The free illustrated lectures of The New York Botanical Gar­den
during September and October are given in the Museum
Building on Saturday afternoons at four o'clock. Doors are
opened at 4: 15 to admit late- comers. The program follows:
Sept. 3. " The Big Trees of California," Dr. H. A. Gleason.
Sept. 10. " Rarer Wild Flowers of New York City and Vicin­ity,"
Mrs. N. L. Britton.
Sept. 17. " Some Successional Aspects of the Local Vegetation,"
Prof. George E. Nichols.
Sept. 24. " The Westchester County Park System,"
Mr. Jay Downer.
234
Oct. i. " Dahlias " ( Exhibit of living collection),
Dr. Marshall A. Howe.
Oct. 8. " In Southern California," Mr. Howard H. Cleaves.
Oct. 15. " Autumn Coloration," Dr. A. B. Stout.
Oct. 22. " The Campaign against Diseases of Our Food Plants,"
Mr. F. C Meier.
Oct. 29. " The Flora of the Catskill Mountains,"
Prof. Oliver P. Medsger.
NOTES, NEW7S, AND COMMENT
A period of violent thunder- storms during the latter part of
July, with a total precipitation of 9.75 inches for the month, cul­minated
on the afternoon of August 1st in one of intense violence
and heavy rainfall, causing the Bronx River to rise over its banks
and flood the north meadows and woods for the first time in sev­eral
years, forming temporary ponds and pools in all the valleys
and depressions, and washing banks and paths so as to require
repairs at many places. At least four large trees were struck by
lightning. Rainfalls during the month of August amounted to
9.97 inches, bringing the precipitation of the two months to the
remarkable total of 19.72 inches. And September 1 added 2.69
inches!
Brother Leon, Professor in the College of La Salle, Havana,
who came to New York to receive the honorary degree of Doctor
of Science from Columbia University at the commencement ex­ercises
in June, has spent parts of June and July at the Garden,
in continuation of studies of the Cuban flora, which in cooperation
with members of the Garden staff, have extended over more than
fifteen years. During this period he has made large collections of
plants in all the provinces of Cuba, forming an herbarium at the
College of La Salle, which has become the most important one in
Cuba; duplicate specimens have been contributed by him to the
herbarium of the Garden. His botanical exploration of Cuba has
revealed many species new to science, and has added greatly to
our knowledge of many others.
Miss Elsa Rehmann, Landscape Architect, of Newark, N. J.,
gave an illustrated lecture on July 9 at The New York Botanical
235
Garden on " The Landscape Treatment of Small Grounds." She
is the author of recently published books entitled " The Small
Place " and " Garden Making." In her lecture, Miss Rehmann
dwelt particularly upon three important elements. First, she em­phasized
the importance of hedges and hedgerows, for the beauty
of the small place depends upon its enclosure which separates it
from its neighbor and makes it complete in itself. She took up,
secondly, the planting against the house. She regrets the over­emphasis
of the miscellaneous evergreen planting, which she con­siders
an unfortunate fad of the present and she looks forward
to a finer understanding of this important subject, for as she put
it, " trees, shrubs, vines, and flowers are not to be planted for
themselves alone but are to be arranged and adapted to the house
against which they are used." And thirdly, she suggested a few
of the elements of the little flower garden, its placing, its back­ground,
its paths and borders, for the real beauty of the flowers
gathered in a garden depends upon them.
Mr. Montague Free, Horticulturist at the Brooklyn Botanic
Garden gave an illustrated lecture on " Rock Gardens " in the
Museum Building of The New York Botanical Garden on Satur­day
afternoon, July 23. Mr. Free is a graduate of the Royal
Botanic Gardens, Kew, England, and for many years has spe­cialized
in the cultivation of rock plants. Rock gardens, said Mr.
Free, are becoming increasingly popular in this country. It is not
at all surprising to those who know something of the beauty and
fascination of alpine plants, which are largely used in the embel­lishment
of rock gardens. Rock gardening is peculiarly well
adapted to those who like to do their own gardening, and also to
those who have the collector's instinct, because many of these
alpine plants are so diminutive that a large collection of them
may be grown on a very small area. About one hundred colored
slides were used to illustrate the lecture. Some of these were
obtained in Europe, illustrating European gardens, and some in
this country. Among the interesting slides were those showing
the famous rock garden at Friar Park in England, which contains
a replica to scale of the peak of the Matterhorn, and covers sev­eral
acres of ground. Many rare alpines were also illustrated,
including such plants as the Lad)' of the Snows, Anemone ver-nalis,
Saxifraga " Faldonside," Oxalis adenophylla, etc.
Meteorology for July. The total precipitation for the month
was 9.75 inches. The maximum temperatures recorded at the
Garden for each week were 870 on the 3rd, 820 on the 9th, p^°
on the 13th, 83° on the 20th, and 92 ° on the 29th. The minimum
temperatures were 54° on the 1st, 500 on the 5th, 580 on the 12th,
l) i° on the 24th, and 61" on the 26th and 28th.
ACCESSIONS
LIBRARY ACCESSIONS FROM MAY I TO JUNE 10, 1927
ASUN, MARY S., comp. Catalogue of the printed books on agriculture [ in
the Rothamstt'd experimental station library], published between 1471
and 1840, with notes on the authors, n. p. 1926.
BABCOCK, ERNEST BROWN, & CLAUSEN, ROY ELWOOD. Genetics in relation
to agriculture. Ed. 2. New York, 1927.
BABINCTON, CHARLES CARDALE. Manual of British botany. Ed, 10, zvith
amended nomenclature and an appendix, edited by A. J. IVilmott.
London, 1922.
BAILEY, HENRY TURNER. The tree folk. Cambridge, 1925.
BAILEY, LIBERTY HYDE. The outlook to nature. New and rev. ed. New
York, .1924.
BARNARD, CHARLES. The strawberry garden. Philadelphia, n. d.
BARNES, PARKER THAYER. Plousc plants and how to grow them. Garden
City, 1923 [ 1909].
BARRON, LEONARD. Lawn making, together zvith the proper keeping of put­ting
greens. Garden City, 1923.
BARRON, LEONARD, & OTHERS. Flozvcr growing, revised and adapted from
the text of I. D. Bennett's " The floivcr garden." Garden City, 1926.
BENNETT, IDA DANDRIDGE. The vegetable garden; a manual for the ama­teur
vegetable gardener. Garden City, 1914.
BEVIS, JAMES FREDERICK, & JEFKERY, HENRY JOHN. British plants; their
biology and ecology. Ed. 2. London, 1920.
BEWLKY, YV. F. Diseases of greenhouse plants. London, 1923.
BEWS, JOHN WILLIAM. Plant forms and their evolution in South Africa-.
London, 1925.
BLACK, JOHN MCCONNELL. The naturalized flora of South Australia. Ade­laide,
1909.
Botanischc Abhandlungcn; herausgegeben von K. Gocbcl. Heft. 1- 10.
Jena, J 922- 26.
BOWER, FREDERIC ORPEN. Botany of the living plant. Ed. 2. London, 1923.
BROWN, HARRY BATES. Cotton: history, species, varieties, morphology,
breeding, culture, diseases, marketing, and uses. New York, 1927.
PUBLICATIONS OF
THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
Journal of The New York Botanical Garden, monthly, containing notes.
news, and non- technical articles. Free to members of the Garden. To
others, 10 cents a copy; $ 1.00 a year. Now in its twenty- eighth volume.
Mycologia, bimonthly, devoted to fungi, including lichens: $ 4.00 a year;
single copies not for sale. [ Not offered in exchange.] Now in its nine­teenth
volume.
Addisonia, quarterly, devoted exclusively to colored plates accompanied
by popular descriptions of flowering plants; eight plates in each number,
thirty- two in each volume. Subscription price, $ 10.00 a year. [ Not
offered in exchange.] Now in its twelfth volume.
Bulletin of The New York Botanical Garden, containing reports of the
Director- in- Chief and other official documents, and technical articles em­bodying
results of investigations. Free to all members of the Garden; to
others, $ 3.00 per volume. Now in its thirteenth volume.
North American Flora. Descriptions of the wild plants of North Amer­ica,
including Greenland, the West Indies, and Central America. Planned
to be completed in 34 volumes. Roy. Svo. Each volume to consist of
four or more parts. $ 6 parts now issued. Subscription price. Si. 50 per
part; a limited number of separate parts will be sold for $ 2.00 each. [ Not
offered in exchange.]
Memoirs of The New York Botanical Garden. Price to members of
the Garden, vols. I- YI, $ 1.50 per volume; to others, $ 3.00. Vol. VII, $ 2.50
to members; to others, $ 5.00.
Vol. I. An Annotated Catalogue of the Flora of Montana and the Yel­lowstone
Park, by Per Axel Rydberg. ix- f- 492 pp., with detailed map.
1900.
Vol. II. The Influence of Light and Darkness upon Growth and Devel­opment,
by D. T. MacDougal. xvi + 320 pp., with 176 figures. 1003.
Vol. III. Studies of Cretaceous Coniferous Remains from Kreischer­ville,
New York, by A. Hollick and E. C. Jeffrey, xiii- h 138 pp., with 29
plates. 1009.
Vol. IV. Effects of the Rays of Radium on Plants, by Charles Stuart
Gager. viii + 47S pp., with 73 figures and 14 plates. 1908.
Vol. V. Flora of the Vicinity of New York: A Contribution to Plant
Geography, by Norman Taylor, vi + 6S3 pp.. with 9 plates. 1915.
Vol. VI. Papers presented at the Celebration of the Twentieth Anni­versary
of The New York Botanical Garden, viii + 594 pp., with 43
plates and many text figures. 1916.
Vol. VII. Includes New Myxophyceae from Porto Rico, by N. L.
Gardner; The Flower Behavior of Avocados, by A. B. Stout; Descrip­tions
of New Genera and Species of Plants Collected on the Mulford
Biological Exploration of the Amazon Valley, 1021- 1922, by H. H. Rusby:
and The Flora of the Saint Eugene Silts. Kootenay Valley, British Co­lumbia,
by Arthur Hollick. viii - j- 464 PP-, with 47 plates, 10 charts,
and 11 text- figures. 1927.
Contributions from The New York Botanical Garden. A series of tech­nical
papers written by students or members of the staff, and reprinted
from journals other than the above. Frice, 25 cents each. $ 5.00 per vol­ume.
In the twelfth volume.
THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
Bronx Park, New York City
GENERAL INFORMATION
Some of the leading features of The New York Botanical Garden
are:
Four hundred acres of beautifully diversified land in the northern part
of the City of New York, through which flows the Bronx River. A native
hemlock forest is one of the features of the tract.
Plantations of thousands of native and introduced trees, shrubs, and
flowering plants.
Gardens, including a beautiful rose garden, a rock garden of rock-loving
plants, and fern and herbaceous gardens.
Greenhouses, containing thousands of interesting plants from America
and foreign countries.
Flower shows throughout the year— in the spring, summer, and autumn
displays of narcissi, daffodils, tulips, irises, peonies, roses, lilies, water-lilies,
gladioli, dahlias, and chrysanthemums; in the winter, displays of
greenhouse- blooming plants.
A museum, containing exhibits of fossil plants, existing plant families,
local plants occurring within one hundred miles of the City of New York,
and the economic uses of plants.
An herbarium, comprising more than one million specimens of Amer­ican
and foreign species.
Exploration in different parts of the United States, the West Indies,
Central and South America, for the study and collection of the character­istic
flora.
Scientific research in laboratories and in the field into the diversified
problems of plant life.
A library of botanical literature, comprising more than 35,000 books
and numerous pamphlets.
Public lectures on a great variety of botanical topics, continuing
throughout the year.
Publications on botanical subjects, partly of technical, scientific, and
partly of popular, interest.
The education of school children and the public through the above
features and the giving of free information on botanical, horticultural,
and forestal subjects.
The Garden is dependent upon an annual appropriation by the
City of New York, private benefactions and membership fees. It
possesses now nearly two thousand members, and applications for
membership are always welcome. The classes of membership are:
Benefactor single contribution $ 25,000
Patron single contribution 5,000
Fellow for Life single contribution 1,000
Member for Life single contribution 250
Fellowship Member annual fee 100
Sustaining Member annual fee 25
Annual Member annual fee 10
Contributions to the Garden may be deducted from taxable incomes.
The following is an approved form of bequest:
/ hereby bequeath to The New York Botanical Garden incorporated undor
the Laws of New York, Chapter 285 of 1801, the sum of
All requests for further information should be sent to
T H E NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
BRONX PARK, NEW YORK CITY