An Account of Botanical Investigations 



in Texas and Adjoining Territory 



The study of Texas plants, though fragmentary and unsys- 

 tematic, is as old as the State itself. Prior to her annexation to 

 the Union, and even before the period of the Republic of Texas, 

 Texas had become an interesting field of observation and re- 

 search for botanists and naturalists. 



This earlv interest in the flora of Texas had its origin in a 

 small collection of about one hundred and fifty species of plants 

 made by Dr. Luis Berlandier, a French scientist travelling in 

 Mexico and Texas during the years 1826 to 1834. As naturalist 

 of the Mier y Teran expedition, or Comision de Liniites, sent 

 out by the Mexican Government to determine the character of 

 the country along the proposed United States and Mexican 

 boundary in 1828, Berlandier made this earliest collection of 

 Texas plants along a route between Laredo and San Antonio. 

 These plants were sent to the Eoyal :Museum at the JarJin des 

 Flantes, Paris, and probably to other European herbaria.* 



A set of Berlandier 's Texas plants came into the hands of 

 Thomas Drummond, an English botanist-collector who had 

 made extensive collections of plants in various parts of North 

 America, and at once revealed to him how different the vegeta- 

 tion of this region is, in general, from that of the United States. 

 lie was therefore very desirous of an opportunity for an ex- 

 pedition into this region and, in 1831, while on a collecting ex- 

 pedition into the central and northern portion of the United 

 States, leaving the rest of bis party, went to St. Louis, thence 

 south to New Orleans, and in 1833-34 made a botanical tour 

 into Texas, spending about sixteen months coUec+ins plants 

 and birds in the vicinity of Galveston Island. These Texas col- 

 lections, comprising 700 species of plants and ISO birds, were 

 sent to Sir Wm. Hooker at Glasgow, who liberally patronized 

 this and many similar expeditions in the interest of the advance- 

 ment of botanical knowledge. 



DrunuBond's letters, written wliile in Texas, were published 



*A set of Berlandier's Texas plants was secured by the Smith- 

 sonian Institution in 1855. The Smith. Inst. 1846-1896, p. 707. 



