Lewis Reeves Gibbes and John Torrey correspondence, 1838-1854

Related Titles

Related/Analytical: New York Botanical Garden Archives

Series: John Torrey papers, series 1, correspondence

By

Gibbes, Lewis Reeves, 1810-1894

Type

Collection

Material

Archival material

Publication info

Notes

Correspondence from Louis Reeves Gibbes to John Torrey, dated 1838-1854. The correspondence begins with Gibbes acknowledging receipt of the prospectus for Torrey's Flora of North America; he wastes no time in recruiting subscribers to the work from among his extensive network of scientific contacts in the South. Like many of Torrey's correspondents, Gibbes notes the (often very) long gaps between his letters; in 1844 he writes that he has not heard from Torrey in over three years, and wonders "Is it possible that I have given any offense?" Gibbes is frequently occupied with questions regarding the genus Rhus, to the irritation of Asa Gray. His letters from 1852 and 1853 are largely concerned with the episode of the mysterious Swedish botanist J.H. (or possibly I.H.) Lundgren, who Torrey befriended and Charles Wilkins Short agreed to sponsor on a plant collecting expedition in the Carolina mountains. After drawing funds from several sources, including Torrey and Gibbes, Lundgren disappeared. Though a box of plants-- in bad shape-- eventually arrived from Lundgren, Gibbes wrote to Torrey in February of 1853, "I have slowly but certainly come to the same conclusion as yourself, that Lundgren has deceived us." Obsolete plant names mentioned include Asclepias parviflora, Aster mirabilis, Cerasus pennsylvanica, Pogostemon patchouli, Schweinitzia.

In English.

Subjects

Asclepias , Asclepias perennis , Bachman, John, 1790-1874 , Barratt, John P. (John Perkins), 1795-1859 , Botanical specimens , Candolle, Alphonse de, 1806-1893 , Cercis canadensis , Correspondence , Cyperaceae , Elliott, Stephen, 1771-1830 , Eurybia mirabilis , Filices , Flora of North America , Frost, Henry Rutledge, 1790-1866 , Galax , Geddings, E. (Eli), 1799-1878 , Gibbes, Lewis Reeves, 1810-1894 , Gray, Asa, 1810-1888 , Harvey, William H. (William Henry), 1811-1866 , Herbarium , Kunth, Karl Sigismund, 1788-1850 , Laurus , Lundgren, J. H., active 1852-1853 , Lyon, John, 1765-1814 , Medical Society of South Carolina , Monograph of the North American Cyperaceae , Pogostemon cablin , Prodromum systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis , Prunus pennsylvanica , Rafinesque, C. S. (constantine Samuel), 1783-1840 , Ravenel, Henry William, 1814-1887 , Rhus , Robinia pseudoacacia , Sabal , Schisandra , Short, Charles Wilkins, 1794-1863 , Shortia , Torrey, John, 1796-1873 , Wurdemann, John G. (John George), 1810-1849

BHL Collections

John Torrey Papers

Language

English

Identifiers

OCLC: 1003322629