Asa Gray Correspondence files of the Gray Herbarium

My specimen from [R. M?. Dames?] is poor & may (as well as Nuttall's plant) be only A. {Asclepias} decumbens β at lanuginosa is the older name. ___ You don't say whether you will be able to name Perry's plants. He don't care about the collection if he only has an account of the plants for his book. ___ Yesterday I received a small collection of plants made at Fort Yuma by two officers of the Army. I was glad to kind the Mohavea among them — but it is only in flower. — Also Fagara california; Obione hymenelytra & the n. gen. of Eriogoneae. (Acanthus [genus?]) if which, you remember, there

were only winter vestiges from Bill Wms. River in Bigelow's Coll.

I enclose a note that Herby handed to me a week or two ago, which please hand to your good Jane.

Madge sends us letters by the last steamer. She was in good health & hoped her aunt & uncle would soon come back. They have gone to Egypt. ___ I sent Hooker's box by the Asia & hope its contents will please him. Yours ever J. Torrey

a fragment of my only specimen of Am. {Amaranthus} deflexus, Fl. N.Y. I have only a poor specimen, which is herewith sent. My best specimens were sent to the State Herbm. at Albany. It agrees with Europ. specimens & with Willd.'s {Willdenow's} fig.

Some years ago Lapham sent me from Milwaukee, and Amaranthus which is unlike any plant of the order in my herbm. I enclose a fragment. It spreads out long branches (so he says) on the ground. I can find no floral envelopes except the bracts.

We had letters from Madge on the 4 [nit.?]. She continues to grow strong. How happy she is to escape such cold weather as we have here! For a

week & more before she wrote there was plenty of crocuses, primroses & violets in blossom around Montreux. She says "Tell Mrs Gray" that the letter for Mr. Vilmorin was sent when she arrived in Paris, & a card was left at the same time, with the door keeper of the hotel — but neither Mons. nor Mde. V. sent any message. The two little books & parcel were after= wards left with the doorkeeper — & a note was sent to Mde. V. Madge sends "a great deal of love to Mrs. Gray & the Dr."

What is Wright doing at Nicaragua? I had not before heard of his being there. ___ Is Sprague working on Pope's drawings? Pray send them on to Prestele as far as they are ready.

Yours ever J. Torrey —

New York, Nov. 21, 1856

Dear Doctor —

Your letter of the 18th was lying on my table this morning. I suppose you took a little rest yesterday ... All our folks dined at Mr. Roberts, with quite a number of family souvenirs.

I am glad you are training another draughtsman & have no doubt you will be able to do something with him if he is steady & willing to study structural botany. I have a young man who has made some drawings for a little report for Parke & some for Williamson's ? [?] report, — but he is too lazy or too stupid to take hold of the business properly.

[last page] a parcel, containing them, & a quantity of other material, next week.

I will do what I can with Euphorbiaceae (excl. Euporbia) — but I have not the means of determining them all satisfactorily.

You have my Hydrophyllaceae. & You shall will find in my parcel some specimens that have come in since. Did I tell you that Whitlavia is threatened with a breakdown? You will find (I think) a specimen labelled Eutoca Parryi, that will connect Phacelia & Whitlavia.

Yours ever, J. Torrey

[attachment] I have no "Phaca? Neisleri?" from Tennessee but Dr. or Mr. Spillman sent me an Astragalus from that state. I showed it to you & afterwards you said it was A. distortus — where I had already referred it. You said you had the same plant from a correspondent. Is this what you mean by P. or A. Neisleri?

so too — but did not I tell you that the latter was pretty clearly Villarsia pumila. The accompanying analysis (which is from Fremont's specimen) is very queer for a Scroph. & very like a Gentianacea! Is it possible that the accuarte Bentham has made a mistake? He notices a 5th stamen. Did you not inspect that the Villarsia from the "Snake Country" — of which you sent me a specimen & was the same as Ourisia — or rather = Fremont's No. 379?

Just now I had a call from Lt. [Weis?], Prof. Bailey's assistant. We shall never see our friend again unless we go to West Point. He is extremely feeble, & able to sit

up only a little while at a time, & after taking some stimulant. He is sinking fast & has made his will. He may go off any day without more warning than he has already given. Poor fellow — I lament that his re= ligious state is so unsatisfactory. He will not allow any one to approach him on the subject of spiritual things — except, occasionaly, Weis the artist. You know that W. is as near a Romanist as he can be, & yet call himself a protestant. ___ Holton came back to-day, after an absence of more than a week. You will remember that all the paper he orders for himself & friends is of my size.

13 22 26 286 New York, Feby. 13th 1857

Dear Doctor

I am puzzled with a plant which I have often looked at before & of which I enclose a fragment. It is = 1510 Wright & occurs in all the collections. I have it (or an allied species) from Gregg. It looks like a Lantana — but can not be Verbenaceous. It many respects it resembles a Cordia — but I find nothing like it in DC. Surely you know it. It is 5-andsummit of style twice 2-less. Ovary 4-celled with an erect ovule in each cell. For it always one-celled by about Endocarp crustaceous, slightly comas. — sculptd. Exoc. very thin — Pray enlighten me about it.

[last page] that I sent him one — but my list is not here to consult. I will send copies to {Adolphe-Théodore} Brongniart, Decaisne & [Lasègue?] ___ If you can name any of Wright's Sativas? help me. I know some of them.

Yours ever — J. Torrey

P.S. I came of from home without the specimen 1510 Wr.

being the larger size of the leaves in Decaisne's plant. Has Seeman noticed it in his Bot. Herald? There are neither glands nor nectary in ours, & the flowers, according to Thurber, are suphur-yellow [?] 2. Stig. oblong. capitate. See the fine long funiculus in the sp. enclosed. Is it adnate to the placenta at an early age?

New York, June 12th 1858

My dear friend

I find that a letter that I wrote to you more than a week ago has never been sent. It was laid aside for some additions & overlooked.

In the mean time I have recd yours of the 4th inst. My time has been much taken up for the week past & I have also been at Sneden's preparing for the sojourn there.

I made a mistake about the no. of Cactaceae plates laid aside for Engelmann. It was he, & not Bigelow who was to have the 100 copies. That is all corrected

[last page] Hochstein has gone to spend some weeks at Orange, in N. Jersey, where he will teach drawing to the children of several wealthy gentelmen, & occupy himself likewise in doing a few jobs — after which I suppose he will go to Cambridge. He will, however, not make a botanical artist — for he esteems our work mere drudgery, & not worth his attention, except as a temporary means of support. He will not study enough of Botany to understand the laws of structure, & so makes a great deal of work for those of us who employ him. ___ I suppose they will soon commence the printing of Mex. Bound. Botany. I have kept the mss. & have worked on it more or less every day — because there are always doubtful things to be settled, The Acanthaceae have troubled me more than any other family. There are about 8 of them left undetermined. Nees' {C.G.D. Nees von Esenbeck} classification & descriptions are very unsatisfactory. In some cases I can not

determine the genus — or even the tribe to which a species belongs! Thurber says you have studied them — or intended to do so. Can you send me the names of any of Wrigtht's?

Madge & Eliza are still at Princeton — improving daily. I hope they will be home this evening. Jane is at Sneden's getting ready our home there. They will all go up some time next week. I spent two or three days at New Haven last week, & was delighted with my visit. Silliman [?] invited me. I went to examine his min. {mineral} cabinet for Columbia College.

Give my best love to your dear wife & believe me ever yours. J. Torrey

now. I have been waiting to send you the 50 remaining sets, till I selected some other things for you. As to those plates of Blake & Antisell's Repts. I don't mean to let you pay for any unless I learn that some extra copies of the letter press can be obtained from the public printer. I will, in case that none of the latter can be had, give you as many of the plates as you desire.

I will just remind you, that the sets of Cactaceae consist of 24 plates each — so that Engelmann has 2,400 impressions.

The sets of Bot. Whipple contain 25 each — which you must multiply

by as many as you received on your own account. I cannot tell whether the No. was 50 or 75. If you had only the former No. & wish it made up to 75 I will send the remaining sets.

The sets of Pope & Beckwith were 10 each. Of these I sent many for you to distribute on my account & you must not charge yourself with these. Thurber has the amount of what I owe you — & you have probably a [?] of it — which will be deducted from your indebtedness. The Algae I believe were transferred to Buckley — who seemed very desirous of owning them, & expressed surprise that they had not been sent to him.

Mem. for Dr. Gray.

What is Chenopodium virginicum &c Linn. Sp. ed. 1, which, in ed. 2 was made β. of C. aristatum? Was the species founded on the Siberian, or the Virginian plant? Of course you know that C. arist. is Teloxys Moq. I suppose the Siberian plant is the X of the species. From the brief description in Sp. pl. one cannot be sure that β. belongs to the same genus even. I doubt whether a Teloxys bas been found in Virginia — but you may have notes on C. arist. β. made when you examined Herb. Linn. I have long had a Teloxys from Gregg's Coll. — but it is a very different species from the Siberian one. Wright's 1738 is the same. Bigelow collected it on Hurrah Creek N. Mex. & at the Copper Mines {{Woodhouse on San Francisco Mt. {Mountains} N. Mex. The species is easily distinguished by its usually toothed leaves, — but more certainly by the little horn-like appendages just below the apex of the calyx segments. Very probably this is the same as the Mexican plant noticed by Moquin as seen by him in "h. [Vivid?] ob."

Why did you not quote my good figure of Eremiastrum in Pacific RR Report? I send you two or three [?] from my specimen.

Among the plants that you sent for me to study was one that you probably took for a Crota. I received the same thing long ago from Emory, who found it on the Lower Gila (1846) — but with neither flowers nor fruit. You will see a pod on the specimen that I send. It is a Malvaceous plant — but I know it not. — Pray look at it.

Do you remember an Agave-looking plant in Newberry's Collection — with flowers at first sight, looking like those of an Amarylled? It is the same as one of Fremont's 1844 Coll. (poor specimen) — from Mohave River. I can not ever be sure of the genus. It is herba= ceous & has the general look of {Agave} virginica — but very different when closely examined.

March 2nd. — What think you of the Washington Murder? Our Supt. has got unpleasantly mixed up with it. We know not yet how he will appear — but the trick (if trial there will be??) — will make all plain.