8 ] The University of New Mexico 
The modern period of research began with Thomas 
Coulter, who explored Sonora in the 1830’s and was the 
first collector to send out plant collections from this region. 
Adolf Wislizenus, in 1846, made the first large collection 
in Chihuahua, although Josiah Gregg had collected numer¬ 
ous specimens, in the 1830’s, which are chiefly in the her¬ 
barium of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Charles Wright, 
1847-1851, made large collections, in Chihuahua and Sonora, 
which were studied by Gray. In 1849-50, Berthold See- 
mann, botanist on H. M. S. Herald, made some collections 
in Sinaloa and Durango. During the 1850’s, various mem¬ 
bers of the United States-Mexican Boundary Commission, 
especially Schott, Wright, Thurber, Parry, Bigelow, and 
Emory, collected extensively along the border. Guillemin- 
Tarayre collected for the French Scientific Commission in 
1865-1866. 
The long regime of Diaz was marked by the visits of 
many noted botanists and naturalists. Among the first, and 
certainly the greatest field botanist, was Cyrus Pringle, 
whose Mexican collections are unequalled by those of any 
other collector. Edward Palmer, who collected mainly from 
northern Mexico during the period 1870-1910, ranks second 
only to Pringle. C. V. Hartman and F. D. Lloyd made ex¬ 
tensive collections in Sonora and Chihuahua from 1890 to 
1893, while accompanying Carl Lumholtz on his archaeologi¬ 
cal explorations. C. A. Purpus, E. A. Mearns, and T. S. • 
Brandegee gathered many specimens in the northern por¬ 
tions of the region. 
E. W. Nelson and E. A. Goldman covered most of north¬ 
western Mexico while engaged in biological investigations. 
F. V. Coville and J. N. Rose, curators of the United States 
National Herbarium, collected extensively in northern Mex¬ 
ico. Since the establishment of the Carnegie Desert Labor¬ 
atory at Tucson, Arizona, in 1903, numerous collecting 
expeditions have been made into Sonora and adjacent areas 
by such botanists as Daniel MacDougal, W. A. Cannon, V. 
M. Spalding, B. E. Livingston, F. E. Clements, and Forrest 
