40 SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB 
years, and more recently still have been receiving collections from . 
the Bolivian Department of Agriculture. During the nineties, I 
spent a season collecting in the lower Orinoco region. All of Mr. 
Smith’s collections are represented at The New York Botanical 
Garden, as well as most of those of Dr. Lehmann. There was thus 
left an Andean region, occupying most of Colombia, the flora of 
which I had not seen and I have for many years desired greatly to 
visit it. This desire was increased by reason of my special interest 
in medical botany. 
During the past season an opportunity was afforded for grati- 
fying this desire, when I was asked to go to Colombia and investi- 
gate certain of its drug supplies. Although the work to be per- 
formed was of a commercial character, an opportunity was afforded 
for extensive botanical collecting, and I brought back with me some 
thirteen hundred collection numbers. This collection was princi- 
pally the work of my associate, Dr. Francis W. Pennell, of the 
Garden staff, who accompanied me. 
We left New York on June 27 and I returned on September 29, 
so that the entire journey occupied a period of three months and 
two days. Almost immediately after reaching the Port of Colom- 
bia, we boarded a river steamer and ascended to the head of 
steamer navigation on the Magdalena River, a journey which 
occupied more than a week. It thus happened that all but fifty- 
one days of our time were spent in sailing, when little or no col- 
lecting could be done. Quite a number of plants were collected 
along the river shore, when the steamer was making prolonged 
stops for taking on fuel, or for discharging and receiving freight. 
Since the vessel was close to the shore during most of its sailing, 
there was good opportunity, by the use of the field-glass, to ascer- 
tain the character of the neighboring vegetation. Because of my 
previous familiarity with tropical American plants, I was enabled 
to utilize this opportunity to excellent advantage. 
On leaving the steamer at Girardot, we traveled by mule 
directly southward for seven days, getting pretty well up on the 
table-land adjacent to the upper Magdalena Valley. We next 
secured fresh mules and proceeded eastward, just crossing the 
ridge of the eastern range. About a week was spent in collecting 
about the summit of this Cordillera. We then returned north 
