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

 NATIONAL MUSEUM EOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1886. 



By Lester P. Ward, Honorary Curator. 



The largest and most valuable addition to the collection was pre- 

 sented by Dr. Y. Havard, U. S. Army. This collection, from Texas 

 and the Southwest generally, contains many species new to the 

 herbarium and also some new to science which have recently been 

 described by Dr. Asa Gray and Mr. Sereno Watson. Quite a number 

 are species detected for the first time within the limits of the United 

 States. The collection is particularly rich in Compositw, Oraminecc, and 

 ferns. 



Next in importance is the collection of a bout 1,000 species, presented 

 by Mr. William M. Oanby, of Wilmington, Del., which is also rich in 

 western plants, particularly from Calfornia. This with the ITavard 

 donation added over 1,500 species to the herbarium. 



A fine collection of nearly 350 species from the Yellowstone National 

 Park was donated by Mr. Frank Tweedy. These specimens are doubly 

 valuable as they were used by Mr. Tweedy in the preparation of his 

 " Flora of the Yellowstone National Park," recently issued (Wash- 

 ington, 1886). 



Mr. C. G. Priugle has presented a set of his Plantae Mexicans col- 

 lected in Mexico in 1885, most of which are new to the herbarium. 



Dr. Edward Palmer has also donated a set of the plants collected by 

 himself in southwestern Chihuahua in 1885. More than 20 per cent 

 of the collection consists of species new to science. 



Mr. Gerald McCarthy donated nearly a complete set, about 300 spe- 

 cies, of his North Carolina collection of 1885. This distribution is rich 

 in grasses and sedges. 



Besides the above donations there have been many others, of varying 

 size, from nearly all parts of the country, which fact goes to prove that 

 when the existence of the herbarium becomes more widely known the 

 influx of material will be rapid. 



Nearly two months of the first part of the fiscal year were spent in 

 completing the card-catalogue of the Joad collection. This collection 

 consisted of about 10,000 species, 9,000 of which were new to the herb- 



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