Vol. VII] EVERM ANN— DIRECTOR'S REPORT FOR 1917 347 



DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS 



Department of Botany 



By Alice Eastwood, Curator 



The Botanical Department of the California Academy of Sciences has 

 now been re-established for five years and a half and the herbarium has 

 grown from the nucleus of what was saved from the fire to a collection of 

 more than 45,000 specimens, all mounted, labeled, and systematically ar- 

 ranged. This has been accomplished with the maximum of effort and the 

 minimum of expense. The past year has been marked by greater progress 

 towards order than any preceding owing to a much increased allowance 

 for help, so that most of the material that had been and was accumulating 

 in an unlabeled condition, because it could not be attended to, has been 

 disposed of satisfactorily. Some old collections that had been donated to 

 the Academy proved almost worthless because the specimens lacked the data 

 necessary to give them .scientific value, and had to be thrown away after 

 saving what could be used. Many also had been destroyed by insects. 

 After 10 years' delay, the data needed for labeling the collection of plants 

 from the Galapagos Islands have been received and the work of labelling, 

 arranging and mounting that immense collection accomplished. The 

 flowering plants and ferns are now in the herbarium and sets of duplicates 

 have been distril)utcd to the leading herbariums of the United States. The 

 mosses, algae, fungi and lichens still remain to be put in order, besides 

 numerous specimens of ferns and flowering plants for which no data have 

 been given and which are not alluded to in the report on the collection 

 published by the California Academy of Sciences. 



Besides the rebuilding of the herbarium which has claimed most of the 

 time and energy of the Curator, many other activities towards popularizing 

 the science of botany have been kept up. The Botanical Department is a 

 place of reference free to all who wish botanical knowledge, from the 

 Customs House official who desires information in regard to oriental im- 

 importations to the child in school or the gardener in doubt concerning 

 the name of a cultivated plant. 



The exhibition of native and cultivated flowers in bloom each labeled 

 with scientific name and popular name also if such there be, with the native 

 home, has been kept up throughout the year in the Museum and seems to 

 excite interest and fill a want in the community. 



Lectures have been given to clubs and schools on popular l)otanical sub- 

 jects, the aim being to arouse interest and enkindle thought. 



The California Botanical Club, an informal organization, which has 

 been in existence since 1891, holds weekly meetings or excursions to places 

 near by where the wild flowers grow. This club numbers about 70 mem- 

 bers. Some of them have given needed help in mounting specimens. Mrs. 

 Marian L. Canipi)ell has mounted 4043, Mrs. Ernest Meiere 809, Mrs. G. 

 Earle Kelly 547, Mrs. E. C. Sutliffe 130 and Miss Allen 145. Besides this 

 Miss Dorothy DufT has mounted 4966 and Miss Louise Mohr 137. 



