Botany 707 



and Fendler, states that these sets, together with plants col- 

 lected by Lindheimer, " form the nucleus of an important and 

 authentic North American herbarium." ^ The Reports for 

 1853 and 1856 refer to several additions to the herbarium — 

 mainly phainogams from Oregon, Alabama, and other locali- 

 ties, a small collection from the Dead Sea, and fungi from 

 South Carolina collected by Ravenel. Other additions were 

 from time to time reported, the most important being a set 

 of Doctor Berlandier's Texas plants, in 1855, and the unique 

 set of ferns collected by Bracken ridge on the Wilkes Explor- 

 ing Expedition in 1862. 



Previous to 1868 the policy of the Institution with regard to 

 botanical collections had been to purchase sets of different col- 

 lectors, to encourage private donations of plants, and to act as 

 custodian of the sets of plants collected on the different gov- 

 ernment expeditions. In 1868, however, the herbarium con- 

 tained from 15,000 to 20,000 specimens from different parts of 

 the world, and it became necessary to adopt a more definite 

 policy with regard to the large and rapidly increasing collec- 

 tion. Up to this date the Institution had depended mainly 

 upon Professor Torrey and Professor Gray for the general 

 arrangement of its collection, but as the time at the disposal 

 of those botanists was limited, it became evident that the 

 constant superintendence of a competent botanist was indis- 

 pensable. The funds of the Smithsonian Institution were, 

 however, far too meager to enable it, together with its 

 other important duties, to undertake the proper care of the 

 herbarium. Since the Agricultural Department required 

 such a collection for continual reference, and had, in fact, 

 begun to form a collection; and, furthermore, since it required 

 the services of a practical botanist in the course of its investi- 

 gations, it seemed advisable to unite the two collections. The 



1 " Smithsonian Report," 1851, page II. 



