REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF RECENT PLANl^ IN THE U S. 

 NATIONAL MUSEUM FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNR ?A ]m. 



By Lester F. Ward, Rorwrary Curator. 



TliQ largest and most valuable addition to the collootion was pre- 

 sented by Dr. V. Havard, U. S. Array. This collection, from Texas 

 and the Southwest generally, contains many species new to the 

 herbarium and also some new to science which have recently been 

 described by Dr. Asa Gray and Mr. Sereno Watson. Quite a number 

 are species detected for the first time within the limits of the United 

 States. The collection is particularly rich in (hmpositcc^ Graminecc, and 

 ferns. 



Kext in importance is the collection of about 1,000 species, presented 

 b}' Mr. William. M. Oanbj^, of Wilmington, Del., which is also rich in 

 western plants, particularly from Calfornia. This with the ITavard 

 donation added over 1,500 species to the herbarium. 



A fine collection of nearly 350 species from the Yellowstone National 

 Park was donated by Mr. Frank Tweedy. These specimens are doubly 

 valuable as they were used by Mr. Tweedy in the preparation of his 

 " Flora of the Yellowstone National Park," recently issued (Wash- 

 ington, 1886). 



Mr. C. O. Pringle has presented a sot of his Plantar Mexicana?, col- 

 lected in Mexico in 1885, most of which are new to the herbarium. 



Dr. Edward Palmer lias also donated a set of the plants collected by 

 himself in southwestern Chihuahua in 1885. More than 20 per cent 

 of the collection consi sts of species new to science. 



Mr. Gerald McCarthy donated nearly a complete set, about 300 spe- 

 cies, of his North Carolina collection of 1885. This distribution is rich 

 in grasses and sedges. 



Besides the above donations there have been many otliors, of varying 

 size, from nearly all parts of the country, which fact goes to prove that 

 when the existence of the herbarium becomes more widely known the 

 influx of material will be rapid. 



Nearly two months of the first part of the fiscal year were spent in 

 completing the card-catalogue of the Joad collection. This collection 

 consisted of about 10,000 species, 0,000 of which were now to the herb- 



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