ILLUSTRATED FLORA OF EAST TEXAS - Brit - Botanical Research ...

Another floristic treatment that was statewide
in scope was Frank Gould’s (1975b) The
Grasses of Texas. That work covered 523 species
of Poaceae and is still considered the standard
for the study of Texas grasses. Gould’s contributions
are discussed further in the section
on Texas A&M University.
Another family that has received thorough
coverage state-wide and beyond is the
Cactaceae. Lyman Benson’s work (1982) and
books (1970, 1984a) by Del Weniger (1923–-
1999) provide detailed information about cacti
in the state. Weniger, who spent much of his
career at Our Lady of the Lake University in San
Antonio, is also well known for his Explorers’
Texas: The Lands and Waters, published in 1984.
At present there are a few long-term
state-wide flora projects ongoing in Texas.
These include a revision of the Manual being
undertaken by David E. Lemke of Texas State
University-San Marcos and the various projects
of the Flora of Texas Consortium (FTC),
conceived by the Botanical Research Institute
of Texas (BRIT), with founding members includ-
HISTORY OF BOTANY IN TEXAS/INTRODUCTION 241
FIG. 144/ MARSHALL CONRING JOHNSTON (1930–). PHOTO
FROM DUST JACKET OF MANUAL OF THE VASCULAR PLANTS OF TEXAS
(CORRELL & JOHNSTON 1970).
ing BRIT, Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University-San Marcos), Texas
A&M University, and the University of Texas at Austin. The goal of the FTC’s Flora of Texas
project is to create an electronic database of information about the more than 5,000 taxa of
native and naturalized vascular plants of Texas, to make these data accessible via the internet,
and to use the information to support botanical studies, including the production of floras.
Extensive online information can be accessed at the Flora of Texas Consortium’s homepage
(http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/ftc/ftchome.htm). An outgrowth of the original FTC project
is the Digital Flora of Texas, whose products, including images, prototype web-based keys,
bibliographic references, and various checklists, may be found at http://www.texasflora.org.
Stephan Hatch (2002) of Texas A&M University is also preparing a state-wide revision of
Gould’s (1975b) The Grasses of Texas.
The publication in 1969 of the two Texas volumes in the Wildflowers of the United States
series by Harold William Rickett was also a major contribution. Approximately 2,700 species
were covered in a total of 553 pages (including descriptions and extensive color photographs).
At the time of publication, it was the most thorough and detailed work on the
Texas flora ever published.
Another slightly different state-wide effort is the Useful Wild Plants (UWP) Project
headed by Scooter Cheatham. This is one of the most extensive botanical projects ever
undertaken in the state, and more than two decades of work have already been devoted to
the effort. The first goal of the project is “to complete and publish a comprehensive twelve
volume encyclopedia that describes over 4,000 Texas plants, discusses in detail their past,
present, and future value, and provides color photographs and distribution maps for each
species” (Useful Wild Plants 2001). Two volumes (Cheatham & Johnston 1995, 2000) have
already been published, with others nearly ready for printing or partially finished. When
completed, this landmark multi-volume work, titled The Useful Wild Plants of Texas, the Southeastern
and Southwestern United States, the Southern Plains, and Northern Mexico, will be the
definitive economic botany study of the southern half of the United States and northern Mexico.
Information about the project can be obtained online at http://www.usefulwildplants.org.