12 (Buvlv Botanical SHrttrrs. 



in Florida. Clufius's figure of our well-known northern 

 .5". purpurea — of which he gives, however, only the 

 leaves and bafe of the ftem (C/us. Hifl. PL, cit. Gerard a 

 Johnfon) — was derived from a fpecimen furnifhed to him 

 by one Mr. Claude Gonier, apothecary at Paris, who him- 

 felf had it from Lifbon; whither we may fuppofe it was 

 carried by fome fifherman from the Newfoundland coaft. 

 The evening primrofe (CEnothera biennis) was known in 

 Europe, according to Linnaeus, as early as 1614. Polygo- 

 num fagittatum and arifolium (tear-thumb) were figured 

 by De Laet, probably from New- York fpecimens, in his 

 " Novus Orbis," 1633. Johnfon's edition of Gerard's 

 " Herbal " (1636) — which "was poffibly our author's manu- 

 al in the ftudy of New-England plants — contains fome 

 dozen North-American fpecies, furnifhed often from the 

 garden of Mr. John Tradefcant, who had other plants from 

 "Virginia" befide the elegant one which bears his name; 

 and John Parkinfon — whofe " Theatrum Botanicum " 

 (1640) is declared by Tournefort to embrace a larger 

 number of fpecies than any. work which had gone before 

 it — defcribes, efpecially from Cornuti, a ftill larger num- 

 ber. But the firft treatife efpecially concerned with 

 North- American plants was that of the French author jure, 

 mentioned; which, on feveral accounts, deferves particu- 

 lar attention. 



John Robin — " fecond to none," fays Tournefort, " in 

 the knowledge and cultivation of plants " — was placed 

 in charge of the Royal Botanical Garden at Paris, about 

 the year 1570; and Vefpafian Robin, "a moft diligent 



