12 Bulletin of the Universitij of Texas 



\vere eolleoted, ehieflv alono,- the headwaters of the Triuitv river, 

 by Dr. Geo. G-. Shumard, surgeon of the expedition (101). 



The years between 18-13 and 1855 constitute the period of 

 greatest activity, as well as discovery, in the early history of 

 Texas botany. This period embraces all of the published col- 

 lections of Lindheimer, the collections of Roemer and Wright, 

 and the collections of the Mexican Boundary and Pacific Rail- 

 way surveys, as well as the small collection made during the 

 exploration of the Red River. The twenty or thirty years fol- 

 lowing this period, though there is an occasional report of a small 

 collection, contributed little of importance to Texas botany. S. 

 B. Buckley reported several small collections from central Texas 

 (26, 27, 28) in 1860-1862, and made a collection of 46 species 

 of Cyperaeeae in the lower Rio Grande valley in 1878-1883 (21). 

 In 1877 Lester F. AA^ard, while on an excutsiou of the members 

 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 

 through Texas and Arkansas, made a collection of 370 species 

 (266 from Texas). Elihu Hall, in 1872, made a collection ot 

 861 species in eastern Texa.s, which were listed in Plantae Tex- 

 an ac (53). 



The next contribution of importance to Texas botany is '^A 

 Report on the Flora of "Western and Southern Texas," by Dr. 

 Y. Harvard, published in the Proceedings of the U. S. National 

 Museum in 1885 (57). This report, based on observations and 

 collections made at several armj^ posts where Dr. Harvard was 

 stationed during the years 1880-1885, gives a general description 

 of the vegetation of the region; but, unlike all previous re- 

 ports on Texas botany, which were purely descriptive, this re- 

 port deals Avith plant formations and discusses them in relation 

 to their environment. In this respect the report really marks 

 the first step In Texas in the transition from a purely descrip- 

 tive botany to a study of plants in relation to their environ- 

 ment—ecology and pathology. Dr. Harvard also made a study 

 of the economic plants of the region, and in the latter part of 

 his report we have the first account of the economic importance 

 of nimierons species having useful or harmful properties. 



The publication of Coulter's ''Botany of Western Texas'' 

 (40), which appeared as Volume IT. of the Contributions from 

 the T". S, National Herbarium, 1891-1894, closed the epoch of 



