FLOWERS OP STORY COUNTY. 



BY J. M. LINDLY. 



Noticing that the proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science do not 

 contain any particular enumeration of the flowers of Story county, 

 the writer is prompted to offer the following list from the herbarium 

 of Vene C. Gambell, who was a student at Ames during the earlier part 

 of the decade of 1880-90. Such a list, perhaps only partial, is thus 

 afforded the academy, and a more permanent and accessible record 

 given the earlier work of one of the brightest young students of science 

 in the history of the state, who, had he been permitted to round out the 

 ordinary span of life, would, doubtless, have attained a degree of scien- 

 tific success worthy of the promises of his youthful attainments. Born 

 near Winfield, Iowa, in 1863, he received the degree of Bachelor of 

 Science in 1886, from the Iowa Agricultural College, taught in the public 

 schools of the state until 1894, his last position here being that of 

 superintendent of the schools of AVapello, which he left the day after 

 the close of his school there for San Francisco, from which he and his 

 wife, Nellie Webster of Rhodes, Iowa, sailed, June 4, 1894, for St. Law- 

 rence Island, Alaska, where he remained three years as United States 

 government teacher to the natives, returning to his home at Winfield 

 at the close of 1897. Sailing the second time for St. Lawrence Island, 

 the vessel, Jane Grey, was wrecked just out of Puget sound, iMay 22, 

 1898, many being lost, including Mr. Gambell, wife and child. 



R. Z. Kirkpatrick, formerly of Winfield, an alumnus of the state 

 college at Ames, after an inspection of the college records and after 

 conversing with the older members of the faculty, ^vrote concerning 

 i\Ir. Gambell: "His electives were all in biological subjects, especially 

 botany, zoology and chemistry. When he graduated he was considered 

 one of the best botanists of the state. His grades in botany and zoology 

 were three 4's — perfect marks — for his term's work. He took a prom- 

 inent part in college activities, especially literary work, and in his 

 junior year became very enthusiastic in college religious activities. He 

 took an extra term in military drill and was a captain of cadets at the 

 time of his graduation. Commandant Lincoln refers to him (in 1906) 



