, rapid. 

 -1 the ^ 



A. Gray— Flora of North America. 325 



Mountains.* At the end of the latter year or early in 1812 he 

 went to England with his collections and notes; and at the 

 close of 1813, under the auspices of Lambert, he produced his 

 Flora, consulting, the while, the herbaria of Clayton, Pallas, 

 Plukenet, Catesby, Morison. Sherard, Walter, and that of Banks. 

 Evidently sneh consultations and the whole study must have 

 The despatch is wonderful. One can hardly under- 

 jround of the statement made by Lambert to my 

 former colleague, Dr. Torrey, that he was obliged to shut 

 Pareh up in his house in order to keep him at his work. 



I know not how Pursh was occupied for the next four years, 

 nor when he came to Canada. But he died here at Montreal, 

 in 1820. at the early age of forty-six. More is probably known 

 *"i liini here. II 1 rightly remember, his grave has been identi- 

 fied, and a stone placed upon it inscribed to his memory. f A 

 tradition lias come down to us — and it is partly confirmed by 

 a statement which Lambert used to make, in reference to the 

 vast quantity of beer he had to furnish during the preparation 

 of the Flora— that, in his hitter days, our predecessor was given 

 to drink, and that his days were thereby shortened. 



In Pursh's Flora we begin to have plants from the Great 

 Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific Coast, although 

 the collections were very scanty. The most important one 

 which fell into Pursh's hands was that of about 150 specimens, 

 gathered by Lewis and Clark on their homeward journey from 

 the mouth of Columbia River. A larger collection, more 

 leisurely made on the outward journey, was lost. Menzies in 

 Vancouver's voyage had botanized on the Paci lie coast, both in 

 and much farther north. Some of his plants were 

 seen by Pursh in the Ua iksian Herbarium, and taken up. I 

 'h/i.v here say that in the winter of 1838-39 I had the pleasure 

 of making the acquaintance of the venerable Menzies, then 

 about ninety-five years old. 



* It is at Wiseasset, therefore, that Pursh's " Plantago cucullata Lam in 



wet_ rocky situations, Canada aiH I'r.wnr ,>! M.«rW is to be sought. Mr. Prin- 



