99 



Herbarium Research and Field Work 

 By Henry EC. Svenson 



Extensive notes on the vegetation of Middle Tennessee, covering' 

 an investigation of several years, have now been completed and 

 will appear as a Brooklyn Botanic Garden Contribution early in 

 the spring. Accompanying these notes are several drawings by 

 Miss Maud Id. Purely, in her characteristically excellent and ac- 

 curate manner, which will contribute greatly to an understanding 

 of species in the groups which have been treated in the South, 

 where as yet only a small proportion of the species of flowering 

 plants have been adequately illustrated. 



Two extensive groups of sedges, Bulbostylis and Fimbristylis, 

 have been completed for North America (including the West In- 

 dies), and the characteristic flowering spikes and fruit of these 

 plants have likewise been illustrated by Miss Purdy. 



In April of this year the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial 

 Foundation gave me a Fellowship for investigation of the relations 

 of plants of the coast of Ecuador and Pern to those of the Gala- 

 pagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean, 600 miles to the westward. 

 With all the emphasis that has been placed on the Galapagos 

 Islands since the time of Darwin's visit in 1834, it is strange that 

 so little attention has been paid to the coast of South America. 

 Here, as 1 have previously pointed out,' grow a considerable num- 

 ber of the plants formerly believed not to occur outside the Gala- 

 pagos Archipelago. Such plants occur chiefly in the desert coastal 

 area of Ecuador and Peru, centering on the Gulf of Guayaquil. 

 Since this area suffers from severe drouth for eight months of the 

 year, it must be visited by the botanist during the period when more 

 or less rain falls, from January to April. The scenic character of 

 the Andes and their much more agreeable climate and luxuriance 

 of both tropical and temperate mountain vegetation, in contrast to 

 the severe climate and scrubby vegetation of the coast, explain why 

 the Ecuadorean littoral remains almost entirely unknown to bot- 

 anists. 



\t may be asked, what is the significance oi this investigation? 



1 Brooklyn Botanic Garden Contributions No. 69, Plants of the Astor Ex- 

 pedition, 1930. 



