A PILGRIMAGE TO TORRE YA. 195 



were gathered. Seedlings and young trees are not uncom- 

 mon, and some old stumps were sprouting from the base, in 

 the manner of the Californian Redwood. So this species 

 may be expected to endure, unless these bluffs should be 

 wantonly disforested — against which their distance from the 

 river and the steepness of the ground offer some protection. 

 But any species of very restricted range may be said to hold 

 its existence by a precarious tenure. The known range of 

 this species is not more than a dozen miles in length along 

 these bluffs, although Dr. Chapman has heard of its growing 

 further south, where the bluff trends away from the river. 

 At least the Yew-tree grows there, which Mr. Croom found 

 with the Torreya near Aspalaga, and I heard of it (identify- 

 ing it by the description) as growing five or six miles away. 



Returning to the boat at nightfall, I brought with me thirty 

 or forty seedling Torreyas, which, being too far advanced to 

 be safely sent far north this spring, have been successfully 

 consigned to the excellent Mr. Berckman's care, at Augusta, 

 Georgia. I hope that one or more of them may in due time 

 be planted upon the grave of Torrey. 



A word or two of Mr. Croom and his sad fate. His name 

 merely is known to botanists as the discoverer of Torreya 

 taxifolia and of Croomia pauciflora, and as the author of a 

 monograph of Sarracenia, in which the handsomest species, 

 S. Drummondii, was originally described and figured. He 

 was the first, after Chapman in 1836, to find this in blossom, 

 Drummond having seen and collected the leaves only, in a 

 winter visit to Apalachicola. Of the botanists who remember 

 and personally knew him, only Dr. Chapman and myself 

 survive. Mr. Croom, originally, I believe, of Newbern, 

 Lenoir County, North Carolina, had a plantation at Quincy, 

 Florida, and another at Mariana, opposite Aspalaga ; and it 

 was in passing from one to the other that he discovered the 

 tree of which I have been discoursing, as well as the herba- 

 ceous plant which bears his name. He was an accomplished 

 and most amiable young man, full of enterprise and zeal for 

 botany, and much was expected from him. But, just as he 

 was entering upon his chosen field, and had made prepara- 



