20 



THOMAS WALTER 



Thomas Walter, botanist, was born in Hampshire, Eng- 

 land, about 1740, and died near Charleston, S. C, about 

 1788. He received a liberal education in England, but 

 emigrating to this country, settled on a plantation in St. 

 Stephen's Parish, S. C. There he followed the business 

 of a planter and devoted his leisure to botany. In his gar- 

 den he cultivated the plants that he subsequently describ- 

 ed, and several species have since been named in honor of 

 him. 



Relatively little in a connected way seems to be known 

 of Walter, but here and there we find an occasional ref- 

 ference. Ezra Brainerd, in an article in Volume 3, Bulle- 

 tin of Charleston Museum, speaks of him as ' 'an enthusi- 

 astic student of nature, who was the first to publish in his 

 Flora Caroliniana a fairly complete account of the flower- 

 ing plants of a definite region in North America." 



There can be no doubt that Walter was during the 

 time in which he lived of equal rank ii not superior to any 

 of the botanists resident in the colonies. He easily ranks 

 foremost among all the botanists of our State previous to 

 his own day. His principal publication is "Flora Carolin- 

 iana Secundum Systema Vegetabilium perillustris Linnaei 

 digesta." This was published in London in 1788. 



Copies of this work are now very rare; but one may be 

 found in each of the libraries of the University of South 

 Carolina and the Charleston Museum. 



The following extract taken from the proceedings of the 

 Elliot Society, Volume 1, page 53, describes a visit of 

 Henry W. Ravenel over fifty years ago to the place of 

 Walter's former residence. It is of interest in that it gives 

 us the impressions of this prominent botanist of a more 

 recent time. 



"On a late visit which I made to "Walter's former resi- 

 dence on the banks of the Santee, in St. John's Parish, I 

 found two clusters of this tree, (tallow tree of China, 



