Notices of Eii7'opean Herbaria. 5 



which was sent to the latter, who transmitted it to Linnasns for 

 pubUcation in the Acta Upsalensia. At an early period he at- 

 tempted a direct correspondence with Linnaeus, but the ship by 

 which his specimens and notes were sent was plundered by pi- 

 rates f- and in a letter sent by Kalm, on the return of the latter 

 to Sweden, he informs Linnoeus that this traveller had been such 

 an industrious collector, as to leave him little hopes of being him- 

 self farther useful. It is not probable therefore that Linnaeus re- 

 ceived any plants from Golden, nor does his herbarium afford any 

 such indication.! From Gronovius, Linnaeus had received a 

 very small number of Clayton's plants, previous to the publica- 

 tion of the Species Plantarum ; but most of the species of the 

 Flora Virgifiica were adopted or referred to other plants on the 

 authority of the descriptions alone. 



Linnseus had another American correspondent in Dr. John 

 MitchelljJ who lived several years in Virginia, where he collected 



* Vid. Letter of Linnseus to Haller, Sept. 24, 1746. 



t The Holosteiiin S7icc.ulentii7n of Liinnssus {Msme foliis ellipticis carnosis of Col- 

 den) is however marked in Linnseus's own copy of the Species Plantarum with the 

 sign employed to designate the species he at that time possessed ; but no correspond- 

 ing specimen is to be found in his herbarium. This plant has long been a puzzle to 

 American botanists; but it is clear from Colden's description that Dr. Torrey 

 has correctly referred it, in his Flora of the Northern and Middle States, (18.24,) 

 to Stellaria media, the common Chickweed. Governor Colden's daughter seems 

 fully to have deserved the praise which Collinson, Ellis, and others have bestowed 

 upon her. The latter, in a letter to Linnseus, (April, 1758,) says: " Mr. Colden 

 of New York has sent Dr. Fothergill a new plant, described by his daughter. It 

 is called Fiij-ftMT-efl, gold-thread. It is a small creeping plant, growing on bogs; 

 the roots are used in a decoction by the country people for sore mouths and sore 

 throats. The root and leaves are very bitter, &c. I shall send you the characters 

 as near as I can translate them." Then follows Miss Colden's detailed generic 

 character, prepared in a manner which would not be discreditable to a botanist of 

 the present day. It is a pity that Linnseus did not adopt the genus, with Miss 

 Colden's name, which is better than Salisbury's Coptis. " This young lady merits 

 your esteem, and does honor to your system. She has drawn and described 400 

 plants in your method : she uses only English terms. Her father has a plant called 

 after him Coldenia; suppose you should call this [alluding to a new genus of 

 which he added the characters] ColdencUa, or any other name that might distin- 

 guish her among your genera." — Ellis, letter to LinntBus, I. c. 



t To him the pretty Mitchella repens was dedicated. Dr. Mitchell had sent to 

 Collinson, perhaps as early as in the year 1740, a paper in which thirty new gen- 

 era of Virginian plants were proposed. This Collinson sent to Trew at Nuremberg, 

 who published it in the £pAemerz'<Ze5 Jlcad. Katura Curiosorum for 1748 ; but in 

 the mean time most of the genera had been already published, with other names, 

 by Linnceus or Gronovius. Among Mitchell's new genera was one which he 

 called Cliammdaphne : this Linnseus referred to Loniccra, but the elder (Bernard) 



