Notices of European Herharia. 11 



The specimens, which are commonly mere fragments, often serve 

 to identify the species of the Flora Caroliiiiana, although they 

 are not always labelled in accordance with that work. 



The collections of Pursh, which served as the basis of his 

 Flo7^a AonericcE, Septentrionalis, are in the possession of Mr. Lam- 

 bert, and form a part of his immense herbarium. These, with a 

 few specimens brought by Lewis and Clark from Oregon and the 

 Rocky Mountains, a set of NuttalPs collections on the Missouri, 

 and also of Bradbury's, so far as they are extant, with a small 

 number from Fraser, Lyon, &c., compose the most important por- 

 tion of this herbarium, so far as North American botany is con- 

 cerned. There is also a small Canadian collection made by 

 Pursh, subsequently to the publication of his Flora, a considera- 

 ble number of Menzies's plants, and other minor contributions. 

 To the general botanist, probably the fine herbarium of Pallas, 

 and the splendid collection of Ruiz and Pa von, (both acquired by 

 Mr. Lambert at a great expense,) are of the highest interest ; and 

 they are by no means unimportant in their relations to North 

 American botany, since the former comprises several species from 

 the North West Coast, and numerous allied Siberian forms, while 

 our Californian plants require, in some instances, to be compared 

 with the Chilian and Peruvian plants of the latter. 



Besides the herbaria already mentioned, there are two others 

 in London of more recent formation, which possess the highest 

 interest as well to the general as to the American botanist, viz. 

 that of Prof Lindley, and of Mr. Bentham. Both comprise very 

 complete sets of the plants collected by Douglas in Oregon, Cali- 

 fornia, and the Rocky Mountains, as well as those raised from 

 seeds or bulbs, which he transmitted to England, of which a 

 large portion have, from time to time, been published by these 

 authors. Mr. Bentham's herbarium is, probably, the richest and 

 most authentic collection in the world for Labiates, and is per- 

 haps nearly unrivalled for Leguminosce, Scrophularinece, and the 

 other tribes to which he has devoted especial attention : it is also 

 particularly full and authentic in European plants. Prof Lind- 

 ley's herbarium, which is very complete in every department, is 

 wholly unrivalled in Orchidaceous plants. The genus-covers are 

 made of strong and smooth hardware paper, the names being 

 written on a slip of white paper pasted on the lower corner. 

 This is an excellent plan, as covers of white paper in the herba- 



