242 



plant morphology and physiology, fields of study which have 

 seen their entire development, as far as this country is concerned, 

 within the memory of the living. Even thus limited, the number 

 of botanists worthy of mention on an occasion such as this is so 

 large that we must necessarily omit altogether some who might 

 reasonably be looked for ; and we may as well admit that in 

 doubtful instances our choice has been influenced by the facility 

 with which we are able to illustrate* our remarks. 



The earliest knowledge of North American plants was derived 

 from the accounts of observant travelers and explorers, and from 

 specimens and seeds carried to Europe by them and by traders. 

 Living plants and seeds were grown in European gardens, and 

 it was from material raised in this way that most of the early 

 technical descriptions of American plants were drawn. The col- 

 lectors possessed little or no botanical knowledge, and the 

 scientists who studied the collections can not be classed as 

 " American " in any sense. 



The first settler of whose scientific attainments as a botanist 

 we have positive evidence, was John Banister, a missionary in 

 Virginia, who lost his life by falling from some rocks while on 

 one of his collecting expeditions. In 1680, Banister sent a list 

 of Virginian plants to John Ray, of England, who published it as 

 an appendix to his Historia Plantarum in 1688. Fifty years had 

 elapsed, however, before the appearance of a work dealing ex- 

 clusively with North American plants, and nearly a century before 

 the first botanical work was published in North America. 



John Clayton, who came from England to Virginia in 1705, 

 and was for 5 i years clerk of Gloucester County, prepared a 

 scholarly work on Virginian plants. Of course he lacked facili- 

 ities for publication, and for the comparison of his plants with 

 those previously described ; his specimens and manuscripts were 

 sent to Holland, where the flora was published under the editor- 

 ship of Gronovius, whose blunders are to be found on nearly 

 every page. Clayton's botanical exploration covered all of 

 eastern Virginia, and extended through many years ; even the 

 year before his death, when he was about 87 years of age, he 

 made a botanical tour through Orange County. All of the care- 



* The paper was illustrated with lantern slides. 



