REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF RECENT PLANTS IN THE U. S, 

 NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



By Lester F. Ward, Honorary Curator. 



Probably the most valuable collection received during the year was 

 that made by Dr. Edward Palmer in southwestern Mexico. It con- 

 tained about 800 species, of which number about 20 per cent, were new 

 to science. More than half the entire number proved to be new to the 

 herbarium, which, through the activity of Dr. Palmer and Mr. C. G. 

 Pringle, now contains a fairly good representation of the Mexican flora. 



Mr. Pringle also made during this year a continuation of his "Plantae 

 Mexicanse," which contained the usual number of new species. 



Mr. S. Applegate contributed a small collection of Alaskan plants, a 

 few of which were new to the herbarium. 



Through the New Orleans Exposition the IT. S. National Museum 

 received a valuable collection of ferns from Costa Rica, which numbered 

 112 species. From lack of the necessary books and material for com- 

 parison these specimens were sent to Kew for determination, where they 

 received the attention of Mr. J. G. Baker, the well-known authority 

 on the Filices. He detected among them some species new to science. 

 This collection, which is the largest ever received from Costa Rica, 

 added 60 species to the list of ferns that were before known to grow in 

 that locality. Two full sets were returned from Kew, one of which is 

 deposited in the herbarium of the National Museum. The other was 

 sent to the Gray herbarium at Cambridge, Massachusetts. 



A very fine collection, numbering over 600 carefully mounted species 

 and a large series of duplicates, was received from central New York. 

 This comprised the entire herbarium of the late Mr. O. E. Pearce, whose 

 death occurred September 11, 1886. The collection was made mostly in 

 the vicinity of Ithaca, New York, and contains many interesting forms. 



Other collections of smaller size were donated by Dr. J. C. McCormick, 

 Mr. J. W. Johnson, and Prof. Alfred Duges. 



The routine work of the department has been largely a continuation 

 of that outlined in several of my former reports. The herbarium was 

 established so recently that the only thing to be done at first was to 

 mount the specimens and arrange them in a suitable manner for refer- 

 ence and study. Consequently the routine work has been in this direc- 



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