BULLETIN 



OF LiBRAl 



THE CHARLESTON MUSEUM 



GAK 



Vol. 6 CHARLESTON, S. C, DECEMBER, 1910 No. 8 



BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE 5YLVA OF SOUTH CAROLINA 



While gathering material for a working bibliography of the 

 sylva of South Carolina, I have been led by the growing interest 

 of the subject to examine many of the early documents rela- 

 ting to the history of South Carolina. These I find to contain 

 references to our native trees, frequently of such interest as 

 make it seem desirable that they be brought together and made 

 accessible to the student of the botany of the state. My re- 

 searches have extended over the period between the discovery 

 of the South Atlantic coast by the Cabots i^i the year 1498, to 

 the close of the eighteenth century. I have, however, exam- 

 ined very few Spanish documents, reserving the accounts of 

 early Spanish explorations for further study. The works con- 

 sulted are to be found in original or reprint form in the collec- 

 tions of the Charleston Library Society, of the South Carolina 

 Historical Society, or of the Charleston Museum. 



EARLIEST EXPLORATIONS 



No definite statement as to the flora of our state occurs in 

 the writings of the earliest explorers. The Cabots left no de- 

 scription of what is now^ South Carolina. A Spaniard, Lucas 

 Vasquez d'AyllonS in 1520, discovered the mouth of the pres- 



^' ' Va. Hist, and Phil. Soc. An account of discoveries in the West until 1519, and of 



J^ voyages to and along the Atlantic Coast of North America. 1848, 29.5-9. 



61 



