ILLUSTRATED FLORA OF EAST TEXAS - Brit - Botanical Research ...
ILLUSTRATED FLORA OF EAST TEXAS - Brit - Botanical Research ...
ILLUSTRATED FLORA OF EAST TEXAS - Brit - Botanical Research ...
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HISTORY <strong>OF</strong> BOTANY IN <strong>TEXAS</strong>/INTRODUCTION 239<br />
deletion of taxa not present or expected to<br />
be present in Texas, occasional notes on the<br />
distribution of species within Texas and the<br />
description of one new species of plant.”<br />
Nonetheless, according to Studhalter (1931),<br />
“too much emphasis cannot be directed toward<br />
the courage which Mrs. Young showed throughout<br />
her work on this, the first science text for<br />
Texas. With almost no formal education, with<br />
no opportunities for travel or study in herbaria,<br />
she nevertheless accomplished the herculean<br />
task of publishing a 646 page text and flora.…”<br />
Studhalter (1931) also noted that Young held<br />
the position of State Botanist for two or three<br />
years around 1872–1873. Her herbarium was<br />
lost in the disastrous hurricane and flood at<br />
Galveston in 1900.<br />
Other relatively early (pre-1945) contributions<br />
to the understanding of Texas botany<br />
were those by T.V. Munson (1883), Forests and FIG. 142/ JOHN KUNKEL SMALL (1869–1938). USED WITH PER-<br />
Forest Trees of Texas; V. Havard (1885), Report MISSION <strong>OF</strong> THE HUNT INSTITUTE FOR BOTANICAL DOCUMENTATION,<br />
on the Flora of Western and Southern Texas; CARNEGIE MELLON UNIV., PITTSBURGH, PA; PHOTOGRAPH BY<br />
J.M. Coulter (1891–1894), Botany of Western<br />
Texas; J.E. Gow (1905), An Ecological Study of<br />
GEORGE F. WEBER.<br />
the Sabine and Neches Valleys, Texas; J.W. Blankinship (1907), Plantae Lindheimerianae, Part III;<br />
I.M. Lewis (1915), The Trees of Texas (the first guide to Texas trees); C.H. Winkler (1915),<br />
The Botany of Texas; R.M. Harper (1920), A Week in Eastern Texas; E.D. Schulz (1922), 500 Wild<br />
Flowers of San Antonio and Vicinity and (1928), Texas Wild Flowers; W.A. Silveus (1933),<br />
Texas Grasses; and M.C. Metz (1934), A Flora of Bexar County, Texas. While neither done in<br />
Texas nor focusing primarily on Texas plants, J.K. Small’s (Fig. 142) Flora of the Southeastern<br />
United States (1903 and subsequent editions), did include the eastern portion of Texas within<br />
its range. This huge work (1370 pages) was a landmark in the study of plants of the entire<br />
southeastern United States and was the standard used by generations of southern botanists.<br />
Unfortunately, its long use in parts of Texas not intended to be covered by the work resulted<br />
in the misidentification of hundreds of herbarium specimens, some of which were later<br />
found to represent new species.<br />
HISTORY <strong>OF</strong> <strong>TEXAS</strong> BOTANICAL SPECIMENS<br />
While a great deal of work was conducted in the 1800s on Texas plants, most of the research<br />
was accomplished by non-residents or was funded by outside sources. The result was that<br />
few of the estimated 125,000–150,000 (B. Lipscomb, unpublished) early collections<br />
remained in the state. According to Shinners (1949),<br />
Pioneer collectors [in Texas] were either sent from Europe, or were patronized by botanists in the<br />
older parts of the United States. Not until the late 1890s did a Texas institution begin serious study<br />
of the flora of the state. Just fifty years ago [now about 110 years ago], W.L. Bray made collections<br />
more or less incidentally to ecological studies of the vegetation. These were the earliest collections to<br />
remain permanently in Texas and were the beginning of what is now the largest herbarium in the<br />
state, that of the University of Texas [at Austin].