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

included in recent delineations of North Central Texas (e.g., Diggs et al. 1999). Stanford has
also done extensive collecting in the Lampasas Cut Plain and Edwards Plateau and has found
many important distributional records (see e.g., Stanford & Diggs 1998).
Baylor University in Waco also has a tradition of botanical studies. Fred R. Gehlbach made
contributions to knowledge of the Edwards Plateau and the genus Acer and co-authored
Edwards Plateau Vegetation: Plant Ecological Studies in Central Texas (Amos & Gehlbach
1988). More recently, Walter H. Holmes, a specialist on the genus Mikania (Asteraceae), has
made numerous collections and published extensively on plant distributions in Texas and
surrounding areas. His work with Jason R. Singhurst (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department),
one of the best field botanists in Texas, has resulted in many significant range extensions and
publications (e.g., Singhurst & Holmes 2001a, 2001b; Singhurst et al. 1997, 2002a, 2002b, 2003a,
2003b), including a number of state records. Recently, Holmes provided treatments of
Alstroemeria, Crinum, Hippeastrum, and Smilax (Holmes 2002a, 2002b, 2002b, 2002d) for
the newly published Liliales and Orchidales Flora of North America volume.
Nelson Rich and his students at Collin County Community College are actively engaged
in an ongoing inventory of the plants of Collin County (Rich 2004).
Another important figure in the history of botany in North Central Texas and the state as
a whole is Benny J. Simpson
(1928–1996) (Fig. 151) (see
Diggs et al. 1999, Appendix 15).
Having served for many years
with the Texas Research Foundation
and later with the Texas
A&M Research and Extension
Center at Dallas, Simpson is possibly
best known as the author
of A Field Guide to Texas Trees
(Simpson 1988). For a full list of
his publications see Davis (1997).
However, among botanists and
native plant enthusiasts, he is
correctly best remembered as the
“Pioneer of the Native Plant Move-
ment” in Texas (Nokes 1997).
Simpson understood that the
scarcity of water is one of the
BOTANY IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS/INTRODUCTION 247
FIG. 151/ BENNY J. SIMPSON (1928–1996). USED WITH PERMISSION OF THE NATIVE
PLANT SOCIETY OF TEXAS.
biggest challenges facing Texas’ future and that native plants, well-adapted to the state’s climate,
are an important resource (e.g., Simpson & Hipp 1984; Simpson 1993). Through his
research, nine superior selections of native plants were released to the nursery industry, including
three forms of Leucophyllum (Scrophulariaceae), widely known as Texas purple-sage
(Nokes 1997; Kiphart 1997). In addition to his other contributions, Simpson was one of the
founding members and a former president of the Native Plant Society of Texas and was active
in that organization until his death (Nokes 1997; Pickens 1997). Extensive information and
photographs of Texas trees (by Benny Simpson) can be found at Benny Simpson’s Texas Native
Trees website (http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/natives/tamuhort.html) maintained
by the Texas Agriculture Experiment Station (Mackay et al. 2003).
In the past, most of the botanical work in North Central Texas has been completed at private
institutions, a tradition which continues today. Until the 1970s and 1980s respectively, the
Texas Research Foundation and Southern Methodist University were leaders in the field. In
recent years, Austin College, Baylor University, the Botanical Research Institute of Texas,
Howard Payne University, Texas Christian University, and Texas Wesleyan University have all