Gay, Jacques Rec. October 27 Ans. Jan 1 1 



Paris, September26, 1860 



My Dear Doctor, 



I must not let Mr. Durand départ without giving him my greetings for you. 



I would like to thank you for the two very interesting brochures that you sent me last spring. 



Your Cuscuta, were sensational in Germany. I learned that a Mr. Ascherson, from Berlin, made a latin 

 translation, with an introduction by Al. Braun. I applaud this with ail my heart as I believe that this is a very 

 good endeavour done with very much good will. I can only comment about one point and that is that you did 

 not mention sufficiently the herbariums where they can be found and their geographical location. This will 

 resuit in the fact that I will need to compare my plants with your spécimens or varieties. I will be too occupied 

 to do this. 



Your Graminacea have also greatly interested me specially because I found in my collection the female of the 

 one you named Buchloe dactyloides. But I did not have the maie. If you ever should think of completing my 

 collection, you would have given me great pleasure. I also received your Monanthocioe. Of this, I do not have 

 the maie or the female. This seems to be much rarer that the other, but I do not believe that you would be in the 

 position of furnishing it to me. 



In regards to the Graminacea, please tell me what a Panicum is. It is characterized as follows: large roots from 

 the stalk, that or 2-3 meters in length, that take root from every knot; several floral stalks coming from leafy 

 stumps that measure one or two feet, with linear leaves. The floral axis, the length of a finger has 5 or 6 linear 

 spikes that are alternated and close together around an axes that simulâtes one single spike. The stigmata are 

 violet; the plant is glabrous except the ends of the stalks that are very furry (but the ends of the floral limbs are 

 smooth!). This plant has been grown already for many years at Verrières, where it tolérâtes our winters 

 perfectly well, even the coldest. It is the despair of the gardeners because of their many multiplying stalks, 

 thousand times worse than those of the Triticum repens. Mr. Vilmorin received it from the Board of Trade of 

 Washington under the name of Mosquito Grass. I looked for it, without success, among the american flowers, 

 but I hope that you will recognize it after reading my description and that through you I will fmally have its 

 name. 



I undertook a big job regarding the geographical distribution of the Trientalis europea ( that I do not 

 differentiate from the Trientalis Americana, other than by its variety). In regards America I have exhausted ail 

 what other authors have published, what ail the great herbariums have and what ail the scholars have said, 

 including our friend Asa Gray. After putting ail the gathered information together, it appears that the plant 

 advances from north to south, the length of the Atlantic from Canada to Pennsylvania but that it does not exist 

 in Virginia, North Carolina nor Kentucky, nor in the states west of the Alleghanies and ail the Mississippi and 

 Missouri River basins. Do you perhaps have contrary opinions and some samples that would support them and 

 the précise location where you found them? This would be of great value to me. I know that the plant has been 



