1922] SARGENT, FIRST FIFTY YEARS OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM 163 



seeds collected principally in Missouri in 1880 flowered and produced fruit, 

 and showed characters so distinct from those of any of the described species 

 that a critical study of the genus as it appears in North America seemed 

 desirable. In carrying out this investigation specimens have been collected 

 in every state of the United States and in every Province of the Dominion of 

 Canada, and 4269 different lots of seeds have been planted at the Arbore- 

 tum and some two hundred thousand plants have been raised. No less 

 than 1056 species and varieties have been distinguished by botanists in 

 these twenty-three years and of these 672 species and varieties have been 

 described by the Director of the Arboretum. 



The living collection of these trees and shrubs which are often conspicu- 

 ous in spring and autumn from the beauty and abundance of their flowers 

 and highly colored fruits now contains seven hundred and thirty-five spe- 

 cies and varieties, and make one of the interesting features of the Arbore- 

 tum. Thousands of these plants raised at the Arboretum have been dis- 

 tributed in this country and Europe; and nearly complete collections have 

 been established in the parks of Rochester, New York, and in England. 



THE HERBARIUM 



The necessity of a collection of dried plants for the correct determina- 

 tion of the living collections and for successful dendrological studies was 

 felt in the earliest days of the Arboretum, but it was not until 1878 that the 

 beginning of an herbarium was made. In that year Mr. John Robinson 

 of Salem came to the Arboretum as curator of the proposed herbarium and 

 began to gather specimens for it. Four years later he was succeeded as 

 curator by Mr. Charles E. Faxon who remained in general charge of the 

 herbarium until his death in 1918. He was succeeded by Mr. Alfred Render 

 who is now the curator. The herbarium, which is confined to specimens 

 of trees, shrubs and suffrutescent plants, now contains two hundred thou- 

 sand sheets and a large number of fruits. It is hoped that it will be 

 extended until it contains a representative of every ligneous plant in the 

 world from the Arctic Circle of the two hemispheres to the equator. The 

 divas now best represented in the herbarium are those of North America 

 and eastern Asia. Plants, however, are found in it from all the conti- 

 nents, and from nearly every country, and the only regions botanically im- 

 portant which are not represented are Madagascar, New Caledonia and 

 New Guinea. 



The first important collections of North American plants were made in 

 1880 and 1881 by the Director and his assistants engaged in preparing for 

 the general government a report on the forests and forest wealth of the 

 United States. The study of North American trees and shrubs begun 

 forty years ago has been steadily continued to the present time, and large 

 quantities of material have been gathered for the herbarium in every part 

 of the country by officers of the Arboretum and collectors employed for the 

 purpose. The herbarium received its first Asiatic plants in 1892 when the 



