331 
Torrey and Gray, Chapmania, in honor of him who is now the 
oldest of living botanists, Dr. A. W. Chapman, of Appalachicola, 
Florida. 
On the 16th of May, almost sixty years ago, there landed at _ 
Savannah, Georgia, a young man from New England, who has 
since gained a world-wide reputation as a botanist and become 
‘more than all others identified with the plants of the South. The 
day following his arrival, in a stroll beyond the city limits he 
found that curious pitcher plant, Serracenia variolaris, and with 
the aid of Eaton’s « Manual” he determined its name. This was 
the starting point of a botanical career which culminated in 1860 
in the production of Chapman’s ‘Southern Flora.” 
In 1835 Dr. Chapman settled in Florida, where he has since 
resided, and during all these years his interest in or love for his 
chosen science has never for a moment flagged. He has always 
been isolated from association with botanists, if we except the 
brief companionship which he enjoyed with Mr. H. B. Croom, 
whose botanical services have been commemorated in the genus 
Croomia; but he has numbered among his correspondents all the . 
prominent botanists in this country and many in Europe. Only 
Seven of these were ever known to him personally, and he has 
outlived them all. 
Dr. Chapman thus writes me, by request, concerning the origin 
of his principal publication—the ‘Southern Flora.” He says: 
“TI believe the « Flora’ owes its existence to a suggestion of 
mine to Dr. Curtis about the year 1856, that we needed for the 
South a work something like what Gray had made for the North, 
and that he (Curtis) was just the man to do it. But at that time 
his hands were full of toadstools and he was rusty among the 
Phanerogams, and so turned over the matter to me, while promis- 
ing every assistance in his power if I would undertake the job. 
My time also was fully occupied with my professional duties dur- 
ing the day, but I concluded to try my hand at it, after office 
hours, by way of experiment. Well, I succeeded better than I 
had anticipated, and was encouraged to go on, and so night after 
- Night, from 9 to 12 or 2 o'clock, for nearly three years, until 
‘Finis’ was reached, found me at work. In the summer of 1859 I 
_ took my manuscript to Cambridge and consulted with Gray about 
