f)> T HIEKACIUM ATJKAKTIACUM T,. 



69 



Cultivated in Britain for over fifty years and now frequent in 

 English gardens. 



Naturalized in Worcestershire (Selly Oak, Thompson, 1902) ; 

 Leicestershire (Bellgrave, Bell, 1909); Oxfordshire (Great Tew, 

 1876); Carmarthenshire (Glynhir, Ley, 1876); W. Somerset (Cul- 

 bone, Hayne, 1867) ; N. Devon (Trentishoe, Carruthers, 1883, and 

 Barnstaple) ; W. Cornwall (Newlyn East, Beid, 1903) ; and probably 

 in other counties. 



THOMAS WALTER (1740 ?-88) AND HIS GRASS. 



By James Britten, F.L.S. 



The herbarium of Thomas Walter, author of the Flora Caro- 

 tin iana, is one of the most interesting collections in the Department 

 of Botany. Its history is given in a note, probably in the hand of 

 the younger John Fraser (H. 1799-1852), on the first page of the 

 folio volume containing it : " The Herbarium of Thomas Walter, Esq., 

 of South Carolina, author of the 'Flora Caroliniana,' pub d 1788. 

 Presented May 23, 1849, to the Linnean Society of London, by John 

 Fraser, son of John Fraser, the indefatigable North American 

 Botanical Collector from the years 1786 to 1811, who died in London 

 the latter year." It was purchased by the Department at the sale of 

 the Society's surplus collections in 1863, for the small sum of fifteen 

 shillings. 



Each specimen is mounted, through a slit, on a small piece of 

 paper of irregular shape, which was apparently cut from another 

 volume in which the collection was originally contained ; this was 

 cut up and rearranged alphabetically — probably by Fraser : on each 

 of these slips the name (sometimes incorrectly applied) is in most 

 cases written. The names are mostly in two hands : sometimes both 

 appear on the same ticket. Mr. S. F. Blake and I, when he was over 

 here in 1915, spent some time in investigating these, and the conclu- 

 sions we arrived at are given in his paper on Walter's plants in 

 Bhodora, xvii. 130. I am not, however, quite satisfied : for example, 

 on the label of Spiraea irifoliata, which Mr. Blake accepts as 

 Walters the word stamens is spelt " stemnys," which one can hardly 

 suppose Walter, who was evidently a man of considerable education, 

 would have written : I do not, however, think this is in the same 

 hand as the other labels identified by Mr. Blake as Walter's. On 

 the other hand, in the labels attributed to Fraser " nova genera," as 

 a singular, is of frequent occurrence, and this appears also in Eraser's 

 printed list. Most of the labels bear a number ; I have not found 

 out to what this refers. On the first page is inscribed " Walter's 

 Herbarium 1786-1788. J. P." (i. e. John Fraser), and it is on 

 their resemblance to this that the identification of the labels is based. 

 A few of the specimens were loose in the volume when it was 

 received ; these were fastened clown when it was re-bound. The 

 plants described in the Flora are not all represented in the her- 

 barium; the specimens are usually small, but mostly sufficient. 

 Manv of them bear names in Smith's hand, added when the collection 

 was at the Linnean Societv. 



