THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



MEMORIAL BY THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY 

 OF AMERICA 



George Valentine Nash 



The death of George Valentine Nash, which occurred on 

 July 15, 1921, in New York City, came as a great surprise and 

 shock to his many friends, and caused them deep sorrow. He 

 had been a member of our Society since 191 7 only, but his name 

 has been for many years a familiar one in the literature of Ameri- 

 can botany. 



Mr. Nash was born in Brooklyn, New York, May 6, 1864, and 

 in early manhood he was trained in practical horticulture as 

 his father's business associate. When, in 1896 he entered the 

 service of the newly organized New York Botanical Garden, 

 he was already known as a specialist in grasses and as an ob- 

 servant field-botanist. He brought to his new work that rare 

 combination of qualifications, a knowledge of horticulture, 

 both practical and scientific, and a taste for taxonomic botany. 



Throughout the twenty-five years of his connection with the 

 New York Botanical Garden, he exerted a strong influence 

 upon the development of the collections of living plants in that 

 institution. During the same period he gave many lectures 

 and published numerous papers on horticultural and botanical 

 topics. He had been one of the editors of "Addisonia" since 

 the establishment of that journal in 1916. 



In 1901 and 1902 Mr. Nash visited Europe in the interests 

 of his institution; and in the years 1903-05 he made several 

 expeditions to the Bahamas, Haiti, and neighboring islands. 

 Prior to his West Indian explorations, he had visited Florida 

 several time for the purpose of making botanical collections. 

 In later years his duties as Head Gardener kept him in New- 

 York most of the time. He was a remarkably diligent, inde- 

 fatigable, and fruitful worker, and all who knew him realize 

 the seriousness of the loss that American botany has sufifered 

 through his untimely decease. 



John Hendley Barnhart / 



Arthur Hollick /■ Committee 



Marshall A. Howe 



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