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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].

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