66 
tioned in my annual report of 1938, has brought the Brooklyn 
Botanic Garden into close contact with practically all the universi- 
ties and other botanical institutions in this country and with nearly 
all the large museums of Europe and even of the Orient; the group 
is of some economic importance, and material is constantly being 
sent in for identification. In this relationship we are especially 
indebted to Dr. S. T. Blake, of the University of Brisbane, Aus- 
tralia, for his generous contribution of specimens and_ notes. 
Eleocharis, curiously enough, outside of the American continent 1s 
best developed in Australia. 
During the past year the research program has consisted of two 
large projects: (1) a continuation of the study of the sedges, 
including the smaller genera Bulbostylis, Pimbristylis, and uirena, 
groups which have been puzzling to all workers on the flora of 
temperate and especially tropical America. These sedges differ 
from fleocharis in being leafy-stemmed. It 1s expected that the 
treatments of these genera (now approaching completion) will 
bring about simplification of the present-day chaos as regards the 
identity of species. 
Flora of Tennessee 
(2) Work was continued on the plants of Middle Tennessee, 
an area which is undergoing very rapid changes, since it is now 
the center of TVA activities. It is also a center of dispersal of 
the flora of the Appalachian highlands and contains a surprisingly 
large percentage of the species which are found in the New Jersey 
pine barrens, some of the species, for example /ris prismatica, 
being of very rare occurrence in the territory between the New 
Jersey pine barrens and the oak barrens of Middle Tennessee. 
During the month of April extensive material was collected for 
study and for exchange with other botanical centers, chiefly in the 
area lying just to the westward of the Cumberland Plateau and 
extending north from the Alabama line. These collections include 
plants of early spring and an adequate representation of the native 
early azalea or honeysuckle, Rhododendron canescens. Headquar- 
ters were ee ished at Huntland, Tennessee, through the kindness 
of Mr. L. L. Gore of Nashville. It is expected that a detailed 
report - the vegetation will be published sometime during the 
coming year in cooperation with Prof. Jesse M. Shaver of Nash- 
