PLANTAE LINDHEIMERIANAE. 131 
After the army was disbanded, Lindheimer seems* to have 
come north to St. Louis and spent the summer of 1839 and 
probably the following winter here, but the climate was too 
severe for his lungs and again he took up his residence in the 
new republic of Texas. He located near Houston and 
engaged in truck-farming (1840-1843), but the land proved 
poor and the business unprofitable, so, urged by his friend, 
Dr. George Engelmann of St. Louis, he decided to give up 
this work and devote himself to that of collecting the 
largely unknown flora of Texas and depend upon the sale of 
his specimens for a living. 
He had always been fond.of botany and devoted much time 
to his favorite study while in the university with Engelmann 
and other botanists. He collected largely on his trip to 
Mexico and continued his botanical work even during the 
excitement of the Texas revolution, as many specimens in 
the Engelmann herbarium will attest, so that now, when in 
doubt as to his vocation in life, he naturally turned to- that 
which he liked best, as long as it should afford him a means 
of livelihood. Moreover, the region in which he was situated 
was largely unknown botanically, only a few collectors} having 
previously visited it and the results of their work not having 
been published. The scattering collections already sent to 
Engelmann showed clearly the need of a scientific investiga- 
tion of the plants of this borderland between the American 
and Mexican floras, and he urged Dr. Gray, who was then just 
establishing the Botanical Garden at Cambridge, to join with 
him and Lindheimer in the exploitation of this unique flora. 
Accordingly advertisements were inserted in several botanical 
journals, and in the spring of 1843 Lindheimer began collect- 
ing plants in quantity for distribution. 
The first year he was not very successful, owing to various 
misfortunes, and a part of the collection of 1844 was lost in 
transmission, but the collections of 1843 and 1844, containing 
318 numbers, were distributed as planned and their descrip- 
* A number of specimens in the Engelmann herbarium are labeled 
“St. Louis. 1839. Lindheimer,” while cage we find he was at San 
Felipe, Texas in March and New Orl ril of that year on his way up. 
+ Berlandier, Drummond, Riddell and speesiont 4 
