The Fort Worth gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-189?, 1891-05-07
THE FLORA OF TENiS.

| Professor Robert T. Hill, the eminent
| scientist. who has figured so extensively in
| the geology of Texas. Arkansas and other
states. aud who is at present on the edi-
torial staff of this continents only magazine
| Of The kind, The American Geologist, has
hOnored us with an interesting letter in
which he says:
lam delighted TO see that YOU are calling
attention in your columns of THE GAZETTE
to the botanical features of Texas and urg-
ing the necessity of an appropriate manual
for use in this region. | have tried very
hard TO collect together all the scattered
literature concerning the botany of our
state, and possibly the following remarks
thereon might be of service to YOU:
In the first place permit me to remark
that Texas embraces within its vast area
several distinct floral provinces, and hence
the difficulty of a complete manual until
these provinces are defined, For instance,
the student will find the fora of ali the
timbered region of Eastern Texas north of
the Colorado, and eNtendg up the alluyiai
basins of Red and other rivers as far west
as Denison and Dallas, TO belong TO the
Eastern United States, and to embrace most
of the plants enumerated in Chapman 5
Flora of the Southern United States. or Mrs
NOung's valuable little handbook. Immedi-
ately west of this upon the sub calcareous
prairies the plants are entirely different.
very few species being found common to il
and the East Texas region. These plants
have never been systematically catalOgued
or studied, and local lists from Fort Worth.
Waco, or other places would be of the
greatest value to science.
Again. the billy. or hard lime plateauS
and buttes of the lower cretaceous areas Of
Southwest Texas present another beauti-
fully distinct flora, with many handsome
ornamental shrubs such as the sophora
commonly mistaken for laurelD. the Bar
berry (Berheris fremontU) or chapparel.
huiSatch, the mountain juniper and others.
The red beds of the Abilene. Wichita
area, tom Green county,, again show an
other peculiar flora, including many of the
plants of the great plains, especially rare
composite which have Travelled eastward.
The vast table land of the Llama Estacado
is still further different from the rest of
Texas, Astounding in its peculiar grasses
and perennialS, most of which are enumcr-
ated in Gray and Coulter's Manual of
Botany in the Rocky Mountain Regions.
The most unique and least described floral
province of Texas is in the mountains of
the trans-Pecos region, where the Yucca,
the sotol. el Siempre yivre giant cacti and
other unique plants adapted to arid exist
ence, prevail.
For this region and all of Southwest
Texas | would commend the reader TO q
most valuable and little known treatise on
Texas botany, to-wit: Harvey's Flora of
Southwest Texas, published in the ninth
annual report of the United States national
museum. Washington. ID. G. This is in
my opinion, one of the most important
treatises on Texas botany.
The field of botanical study has been so
much differentiated in late years that large
and comprehensive subdivisions of the
study have been made, especially in the
field of cryptogamious or woodworking
plants. j should add that there are several
works on special branches of botany which
will be 4 great aid 70 the Texas student.
All of our ferns will be found in Under
woods little manual on North
American ferns. The cactacal, which
were the subject of DIR. Engle-
mans life study, have been beautifully
ST. Louis, but the work costs in the neigh |
borhood of so. The composite or sun
flower family can all be found in Gray's |
Monograph, published by the Smithsonian |
institution. |
] wish also 10 add 4 word about some of |
the pioneers in the study of Texas botany, |
those noble men who worked for science |
and nature mrewarded aud without honor |
in their own country. Thomas Nuttall |
visited the lower Red river valley in the |
early part of this century and studied the |
plants of Southeast Arkansas. Southeast |
Indian Territory and Northern Texas. Dr. /
Iindheimer, a most able German natu- |
ralSt, worked most industriouSly and pa |
iiently for years on the botany of the New |
Braunfels region, and published the results |
Of his studies in Northern and European
journals. Mrs. Young of Houston and DIR.
Buckley of Austin deserve places of honor
IN the memory of Texans. The GAZETTE
mas already mentioned their work. The
alters books, herbarium and manuscripts,
were bought by secondhand dealer and |
sold TO scientific institution in ST. Louis.
Think all these names are those of work
ers in antebellum days Who are the
workers now Alas we are indeed living
n period of scientific apathy in Texas. |
But there is still prophet at least in our
'wn country to whom l at least shall do
honor. This is Professor T. V. Munson of
Denison, who, in addition to his long
studies of economic botany and horticulture.
las been patient investigator of scientific
botany, and is bringing abroad honor and
'redit to our state. France has given him
he cross of the Legion of Honor for his
work on grapes, and the United States de- |
of agriculture has time and again
elied and drawn upon his knowledge. and
5 now publishing his magnificent book ON
ne North American grapes.