Ig THE DEVELOPMENT OF BOTANY 



John M. Coulter 



Development of Botany in the United States 



Reprinted with the permission of the author 

 and pubhsher from Proceedings American 

 Philosophical Society 66:309-318, 1927. 



The period covered by the present for many years in this country. Tliis 

 article includes the whole history of the was natural, for our flora was being ex- 

 origin and development of botany in plored for the first time, and the enor- 

 the United States. In outlining this his- mous extent of the territory to be 

 tor)' I shall not include citations from covered led to the organization of many 

 bibliographv, for the names of investi- exploring expeditions, each securing a 

 gators who have made important con- wealth of new material. At that time, 

 tributions to our botanical progress are therefore, botany in the United States 

 numerous, and a selection would be consisted only of the collection and 

 difficult. I shall attempt, therefore, only naming of plants. It was in this period 

 to present in outline the development that our manuals of botany began to be 

 of the subject, from its start in this published, registering the current knowl- 

 country to its present status. edge of the conspicuous flora of vari- 



At the beginning of the period we ous regions. This phase of our subject 



are considering, botany was represented may be defined as the assembling of 



only by the random collection of plants material for subsequent invcsrigation. 



from a virgin flora. At first these collcc- It must not be supposed that taxon- 



tions were not studied or published in omy stopped its development when 



this country, for there were no botanists other phases of botany started. It calls 



trained sufficiently for this work. Tlie for more critical work now than ever 



plants were sent or taken chiefly to before, for the accumulating body of 



England and France, and described morphological data is constantly shift- 



and published in those countries. ing classification. Taxonomy must in- 



This first phase of botany is known elude the last expression of our knowl- 



a$ taxonomy, and it was the only phase edge of plants, so that taxonomists are 



