An entirely different perspective of the Patent Office 

 greenhouse can be gleaned from a 1844 article by CM. 

 Hovey, editor of the Magazine of Horticulture. Hovey found 

 Brackenridge to be most accommodating and his garden 

 most impressive. 'Another season, under [Brackenridge's] 

 attentive, care," Hovey was convinced, would result in an 

 even "better development of the habits and character of many 

 of the more rare and tropical species." By that time, Bracken- 

 ridge would also "have multiplied many of the plants, to 

 such a degree, that they may, if such is the intent of govern- 

 ment, be distributed among nurserymen." 33 



NEED FOR A NEW LOCATION 



Five years later, in 1849, it became necessary to expand the 

 Patent Office and find a new location for the botanical col- 

 lections of the Wilkes Expedition. The site selected was at 

 the east end of the Mall at the foot of Capitol Hill. Although 

 many new species would be acquired to fill the new 

 conservatory soon to be built there, the Wilkes Expedition 

 contributions still formed the nucleus of the collection. 34 

 Today, there are still two plants in the United States 

 Botanic Garden collection that are considered to have been 

 part of the Wilkes Expedition bounty. Both are described in 

 the botanical journals of the Expedition. These are the 

 Angiopteris evecta, the Vessel Fern; and the Zizyphus jujuba, 

 the Chinese Jujube. A large specimen of the former species 

 is housed in the Conservatory. The Zizyphus is located in 

 the Frederic Auguste Bartholdi Park, opposite the Conser- 

 vatory, on Independence Avenue. 



33 CM. Hovey, Experimental Garden of the National Institute, Maga- 

 zine of Horticulture, v. 10, March 1844, p. 82. For his description of the 

 garden, see Appendix 3. 



34 Solit, U.S. Botanic Garden, p. 5. 



28 



