Bot. Rev. (2014) 80:152–163 DOI 10.1007/s12229-014-9142-2

The New York Botanical Garden and the making of The Bahama Flora, 1920 Brian M. Boom1,2 1 2

The New York Botanical Garden, 2900 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10458, USA Author for Correspondence; e-mail: [email protected]

Published online: 7 August 2014 # The New York Botanical Garden 2014

Abstract In the late 1800s and early 1900s, The New York Botanical Garden, under the leadership of its Director-in-Chief, Nathaniel Lord Britton, launched an intensive program of exploration and publication on the plants of the Western Hemisphere, particularly in the northern Caribbean region. One major geographic focus during this period was the Bahama archipelago, resulting in the 1920 publication The Bahama Flora. Dr. Britton personally led four expeditions to the Bahamas between 1904 and 1907, but most of his effort on this project was devoted to coordinating and seeking funding for some two dozen expeditions from 1904 to 1911 undertaken by collaborators, most notably Charles Frederick Millspaugh of the Field Museum, co-author with N.L. Britton of The Bahama Flora. In total, the Flora reported 1,982 species. The present paper recounts the itineraries of the expeditions and provides examples of the principal botanical discoveries realized in the making of The Bahama Flora. Keywords The New York Botanical Garden . Bahamas . Flora

Introduction For just over six decades, The Bahama Flora (Britton & Millspaugh, 1920) was the world’s most authoritative compendium of the plants of the Bahamas. That book’s currency was supplanted by the publication of Flora of the Bahama Archipelago (Correll & Correll, 1982) by Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden taxonomists Donovan Correll (1908–1983) and his wife Helen Correll (1907–2000), the thirtieth anniversary of which was the occasion for the international symposium, October 30–31, 2012, Celebrating 30 Years of the Flora of the Bahamas: Conservation and Science Challenges. It was within the context of this symposium that the present paper was presented so as to provide an accounting of the extensive botanical exploration and scholarship that led to our state of knowledge of the Bahamian flora nearly a century ago, as presented in that 1920 publication. For an accounting of floristic activities in the Bahamas from 1920 to the present day, and a review of pre-1920 This article is dedicated to the memory of Lewis Jones Knight Brace (1852–1938), Bahamian botanist extraordinaire, and the major resident enabler of The Bahama Flora

The New York Botanical Garden and The Bahama Flora, 1920

153

expeditions and publications as well, see an accompanying article in this volume by Vincent and Hickey (in press). While the present paper only concerns Bahamian botanical exploration and publications leading up to 1920, the author would like to acknowledge the research on the flora of the Archipelago that transpired since then, leading to the Corrells’ landmark book in 1982, as well as that of dozens of other botanists, perhaps most notably William T. Gillis (1933–1979) (Kass & Eshbaugh, 1994), whose collective works led to the excellent state of knowledge of the Bahamian flora that we have in the present day. The author would further like to honor and congratulate the Bahamas National Trust for the outstanding progress that has been made in the past three decades in establishing a strong network of national parks in the country and for new botanical gardens and nature preserves, such as the recently established Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve on the island of Eleuthera. These conservation units are vital to fostering an appreciation of the value of biodiversity in the Bahamas, for citizens of the country and visitors alike. Floristic studies, as with all scientific endeavors, build successively “on the shoulders of giants,” as the saying goes. So too does a conservation mindset of a nation grow and build on successive generations who understand the value of their natural heritage and use that knowledge judiciously and equitably to build a sustainable society. There is probably no better resource to gain an understanding of the historical context within which The Bahama Flora was published than the book Britton’s Botanical Empire (Mickulas, 2007), which chronicles the origin and early evolution of The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG), of which Nathaniel Lord Britton (1859– 1934) was the founding Director-in-Chief. N. L. Britton was an extraordinarily gifted and ambitious – some might say driven – scientist and administrator. His vision for NYBG and his skill in realizing that vision were the most dominant forces in establishing the institution and in forging its mission. Britton believed that his young institution needed to have scientific independence from European centers of botany, and he resolved to establish it through a program of botanical exploration and publication on the flora of the Western Hemisphere. The high level of field activity in those early years of NYBG was extraordinary, and perhaps could be characterized as an embodiment of choreographed frenzy. For example, during the 7 years between the Botanical Garden’s first expedition in 1897 to the beginning of the Bahamian expeditions in 1904, there were no fewer than fortyseven expeditions to twenty-four countries, territories, and states in the United States (Boom, 1996). A very great geographic focus for these early expeditions was the Caribbean region, due, in large part to the outcome of the Spanish American War with the signing of the Treaty of Paris of 1898, in which Spanish possessions in the Caribbean (and the Philippines and Guam) were ceded to the United States; Cuba, while not a possession of the United States, became very much a protectorate of it. These developments opened up a region for botanical exploration that was very close to the United States mainland, and perfectly timed for Britton’s vision to create a geographic niche for American botany generally, and for his own institution in particular. Baatz (1996) aptly termed this attitude and approach Britton’s Monroe Doctrine. Thus, the islands Puerto Rico and Cuba were particularly frequent destinations for expeditions undertaken by NYBG in the early years of the twentieth century.

154

B.M. Boom

Of course, the Treaty of Paris of 1898 had no effect on British, Dutch, or French possessions in the Caribbean, but it surely seemed logical to Britton that once he was conducting expeditions to the region that he would investigate as many islands as possible so as to achieve the most complete floristic understanding, and, in addition, to extend the reach of American botany more widely. Thus, Britton sent plant collecting expeditions to Jamaica and Bermuda beginning in 1900, St. Kitts in 1901, Dominica and Haiti in 1903, and beginning in 1904 to the Bahamas (Boom, 1996). N. L. Britton brought several great assets to his task of creating a distinctively American botany. First, Britton was a master at assembling collaborators for his floristic projects, and the making of The Bahama Flora is an excellent example of his approach to scientific endeavors. Second, he was also a master of assembling financial support for his projects from wealthy New Yorkers, to which he added his own personal funds when necessary to get projects done. A third asset he had going for him was his wife, Elizabeth Gertrude Knight Britton (1857–1934), a prominent bryologist and prolific plant collector, particularly from Caribbean islands, and author of many new bryophyte species and floristic accounts of mosses. Elizabeth Britton grew up on her grandfather’s sugar cane plantation in Cuba, and there she learned to speak Spanish fluently. Surely, her linguistic ability factored into Nathaniel Britton’s ease of establishing and executing botanical expeditions to Puerto Rico and Cuba, as the two frequently conducted field research together. Of great relevance to the Brittons’ research in Bahamas is that a native-born resident botanist of the Bahamas, Lewis J. K. Brace (1852–1938), was Elizabeth Britton’s cousin. Doubtless, this family connection between the Brittons and Brace greatly facilitated the making of The Bahamas Flora, and this relationship will be explored later in this paper. Before examining the 16-year period from the first expedition of NYBG to the Bahamas in 1904 to the publication of The Bahama Flora in 1920, it is important to consider earlier plant collecting activity in the Archipelago, which dates back fully 200 years (Vincent & Hickey, in press). This is a vital consideration because Britton and colleagues drew information for their work from these earlier collections whenever possible; the information is outlined quite well in their Flora (Britton & Millspaugh, 1920), which cites some fifty collectors of Bahamian plants. This information on earlier collectors was derived largely from Millspaugh (1906, 1909), which also contained a list of islands from where collections were made and a list of vernacular plant names. Vincent and Hickey (in press) considers the collectors of Bahamian plants prior to the Britton era in rather great detail, so the review below will be abbreviated and largely treat only selected efforts that most relate to the making of The Bahama Flora.

Botanical Exploration in the Bahamas, 1703–1903 The earliest known plant specimens collected in the Bahamas were those gathered by Thomas Walker (?–1722), a British planter and Governor of the islands, in the early 1700s. Walker’s surviving specimens were sent to James Petiver, whose herbarium is now incorporated into the Sloane Herbarium of the Natural History Museum of London, BM (herbarium acronyms follow Index Herbariorum available online at: http://sciweb.nybg.org/science2/IndexHerbariorum.asp).

The New York Botanical Garden and The Bahama Flora, 1920

155

The first well-known collector of Bahamian plants was British naturalist Mark Catesby (1682?–1749), who visited the Archipelago in 1725–26. The results of his explorations were published in The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahamas (Catesby, 1731–1743). The next well-known collector of plants in the Archipelago was André Michaux (1746–1802), who visited the island of New Providence for about a month in 1789. His Bahamian herbarium specimens were deposited in P. A less well-known collector of Bahamian plants, but the one whose specimens are probably the earliest ones deposited in NY, is William Cooper (1798–1864), who visited New Providence in 1859. Cooper was best known as a zoologist and was in the Bahamas to collect mollusks, but he found time to collect about 100 numbers of plants for his friend John Torrey (1796–1873). Torrey’s Herbarium was later incorporated in NY. Fifty-four of Cooper’s Bahamian specimens can be searched for and viewed at The New York Botanical Garden’s C. V. Starr Virtual Herbarium: http://sciweb.nybg.org/Science2/vii2.asp. A notable early collection of marine algae from the Bahamas was made in 1874 by the famous plant collector Edward Palmer (1831–1911). He collected about thirty specimens of algae near Nassau, New Providence island, that were studied and published upon by Eaton (1875). Lewis Jones Knight Brace was one of the most important collectors of Bahamian plants before N. L. Britton launched his Bahama Flora project and during the conduct of the project (Burkill, 1941). Lewis Brace was born in the Bahamas, and as noted earlier was a cousin Elizabeth Gertrude Knight Britton. Between 1875 and 1880, he collected more than 500 plant specimens principally from the islands of New Providence, Long Cay, and Andros. Sets of his specimens came to be deposited in F, K, and NY. An example of a specimen he collected during this period (Brace 221) is Pithecellobium keyense Britton (Fabaceae): http://sweetgum.nybg.org/vh/specimen. php?irn=1464758. Brace compiled a checklist of the species he collected in the Bahamas up until 1880; other botanists added to it, and the result was published (Gardiner et al., 1889), comprising the most authoritative accounting of the plants of the Bahamas Archipelago up to that time. Another collector from this era who had a profound impact on knowledge of the Bahamas flora at the end of the nineteenth century, and with a substantial influence on N. L. Britton’s Bahamian botanical ambitions was Alice R. Northrop (1864–1916), who, in the company of her zoologist husband, John I. Northrop (1861–1891), in 1890 made a collection of 758 numbers that were subsequently deposited at NY, F, K, and B. The Northrops collected on Andros Island and New Providence principally, with additional specimens taken from Rose Island, Salt Cay, and Hog Island. It is safe to say they had good eyes for plants, as at least 34 specimens they collected that year were to become types for new species, a prominent example being Tecoma bahamensis Northr. [=Tabebuia bahamensis (Northr.) Britton] (Bignoneaceae), http://sweetgum. nybg.org/vh/specimen.php?irn=464059. This species subsequently became the national tree of the Bahamas, the common name of which is “Five Finger(s).” This species is the symbol of the newly established Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve of the Bahamas National Trust, an example of a linkage between a botanical discovery and the creation more than a century later of an iconic symbol of the conservation of the Bahamas’ native flora.

156

B.M. Boom

Results of the Northrops’ 1890 expedition to Andros Island and New Providence were published (Northrop, 1902, 1910). For a discussion of Alice R. Northrop’s type specimens, see Kass (2005). Alice R. Northrop’s research papers are deposited at Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Harvard University. Another important expedition to the Bahamas around the turn of the century was that led by William C. Coker (1872–1953) in the summer of 1903. The Bahamian Expedition of the Geographical Society of Baltimore resulted in 576 numbered collections that were deposited in NY from a wide area across the Bahamas, including New Providence, Abaco Island, George’s Island, Eleuthera, Cat Island, Watling’s Island, Long Island, and Rum Cay; Coker’s Bahamas field notebook is deposited in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of NYBG. Coker collected at least seven specimens that were to become types for new species, such as W. C. Coker 564 (holotype, NY) for Ernodea cokeri Britton ex Coker (Rubiaceae), http://sweetgum.nybg.org/vh/specimen. php?irn=561983. The results of this expedition were published, principally as an accounting of the Archipelago’s vegetation, but also with several new species described (Coker, 1905).

The Bahamian Expeditions of The New York Botanical Garden, 1904–1911 As discussed previously, in the early 1900s N. L. Britton was intent on staking a botanical claim for NYBG, and American botany generally, in the Western Hemisphere, and the Caribbean region was one of the principal geographic foci. It was within this context that Dr. Britton developed a plan for conducting botanical exploration within the Bahamas, the idea doubtless buoyed by the fact that Elizabeth Britton’s cousin, Lewis Jones Knight Brace, was resident in the Bahamas and a trained botanist and avid plant collector who had already deposited more than 500 specimens from the Archipelago at NY. Nathaniel L. Britton had been thinking about plants of the Bahamas even before the NYBG was founded, as evidenced by his review (Britton, 1890) of Gardiner et al. (1889), the checklist of plants of the Archipelago that had been begun by Brace. To accomplish his botanical ambitions in the Bahamas, Britton partnered with a botanist from the Field Museum in Chicago, Charles Fredrick Millspaugh (1854–1923). Trained as a medical doctor before turning to botany, Millspaugh’s early magnum opus was a ten-volume work entitled American Medicinal Plants. His distinguished career at the Field Museum, where he arrived in 1894 and spent the remainder of his career, was profiled, with a portrait, by Sherff (1924). As explained by Millspaugh (1906, 1909), Britton and he decided to join forces to explore and publish on the flora of the Bahamas, and they devised a strategic plan to conduct expeditions that would cover all of the islands within just a few years. Before launching these expeditions, Britton and Millspaugh consulted with botanists from Great Britain and obtained their consent and the support of their institutions in the United Kingdom, and this consent and support was “unhesitatingly given.” The itineraries of the expeditions that ensued, spanning the years 1904–1911 were described at the conclusion of Britton and Millspaugh (1920), and in other publications as indicated below. It is difficult to say exactly how many expeditions were undertaken,

The New York Botanical Garden and The Bahama Flora, 1920

157

as various collectors would often begin an expedition together, but then split apart to collect independently on other islands. Thus, the descriptions of expeditions are simply organized by the year in which they occurred or began. Unless otherwise stated, the original field notebooks of the collectors are deposited in the Archives of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of the NYBG and specimens were deposited in the herbaria of NY and F. 1904 Field expeditions to the Bahamas began in earnest in 1904, and the first one was in April of that year, led by N. L. Britton, who was accompanied by C. Millspaugh and Marshall Howe (1867–1936), the latter a member of the scientific staff of the NYBG where he studied principally algae and hepatics. This initial expedition was to New Providence, where N. L. Britton made 158 collections; results and observations were reported by Britton (1904a). Millspaugh continued collecting on New Providence when N. L. Britton returned to New York, and then sailed, in the company of Howe, for an exploration of the Bimini Islands. Howe (1904) reported separately on his algal collections from this expedition, and he quickly began publishing new species collected. Nathaniel L. Britton led a slightly more extensive expedition, also to New Providence, in September – October of that year, accompanied by Elizabeth Britton and Lewis Brace (Britton, 1904b), resulting in 714 collections. Consistent with N. L. Britton’s emphatic dictum of “get it into print,” both Millspaugh and he quickly began to publish new species from the Bahamas, such as Britton (1904c) and Millspaugh (1904). An example of a new species collected on these 1904 expeditions is Scolosanthus bahamensis Britton (Rubiaceae): http://sweetgum.nybg.org/vh/ specimen.php?irn=119125. Britton dispatched another collecting team in October of this year to investigate the Inagua islands. The NYBG staff members on this expedition were George Valentine Nash (1864–1921) and Norman Taylor (1883–1967), collected about 600 numbers from Inagua, Little Inagua, and Sheep Cay. The results were published by Nash (1905); an example of a new species collected on this expedition is Agave nashii Trel. (Asparagaceae): http://sweetgum.nybg.org/vh/specimen.php?irn=412763. The following year, en route to New York after an expedition to Haiti, Nash and Taylor spent a week on Grand Turk Island in September and made 136 collections. In addition to accompanying the Brittons on the September-October expedition, Brace was commissioned by the NYBG this year to explore the Abacos Islands, which resulted in 611 numbers, including many cryptogams. An example of a new species he discovered on his Abacos expedition is the lycophyte Selaginella bracei Hieron. ex O.C. Schmidt (Selaginellaceae): http://sweetgum.nybg.org/vh/specimen.php?irn=136873. As he resided in the Bahamas, Brace also continued collecting on New Providence as needed, visiting localities where more complete specimens were requested by Britton, as evidenced by the frequent correspondence between N. L. Britton and him in the Mertz Library of the NYBG. In addition to NYBG and the Field Museum, another institution involved in botanical exploration of the Bahamas this year was Gray Herbarium of Harvard University. One such expedition was undertaken by Alexander E. Wight beginning in December and extending for about 5 months to New Providence, Hog Island, and Andros. The first set of specimens was deposited at F and duplicate sets went to NY and HUH.

158

B.M. Boom

1905 Beginning in January of this year, turning to the northern portion of the Archipelago, N. L. Britton, Millspaugh, and Howe explored the Berry Islands, Rose Island, Great Bahama, and the Exuma Cays. This resulted in a large number of collections (1,057) on Britton’s series and a separate set of numbers for algae on Howe’s series. Results were reported in Britton (1905). An example of a new species described from this expedition is Lantana ovatifolia Britton (Verbenaceae): http://sweetgum.nybg.org/vh/ specimen.php?irn=66542. Brace was commissioned this year by NYBG and the Field Museum to make a series of expeditions. First, he continued explorations begun earlier by Britton and collaborators on Great Bahama. He later collected plants on Garden Cay, North Bimini, South Bimini, North Cat Cay, Andros Island, and New Providence. He then explored Rum Cay, Fortune Island, Acklin’s Island, Crooked Island, and Andros. Finally, Brace continued his ongoing plant collecting on New Providence, accompanied by Mrs. Britton, who herself collected 310 numbers. An example of a new species Brace discovered on his expeditions this year is Maytenus lucayana Britton (Celastraceae): http://sweetgum.nybg.org/vh/specimen.php?irn=699313. 1907 Nathaniel L. Britton and Millspaugh made a major expedition to New Providence and several of the Out Islands, specifically Harbor Island, Eleuthera, Little San Salvador, Cat Island, Watling’s Island, Conception Island, and Long Island, resulting in 1,278 collections. The results were published in Britton (1907). An example of a new species discovered on this expedition is Lantana bahamensis Britton: http://sweetgum.nybg. org/vh/specimen.php?irn=1482315. Mrs. Britton accompanied Millspaugh and Dr. Britton as far as Harbor Island, and made that her base for collecting 167 specimens on that island and Eleuthera; she later collected 127 specimens on New Providence while awaiting the return of Drs. Millspaugh and Britton from the Outer Islands. Percy Wilson (1879–1944) was N. L. Britton’s personal assistant who collected plants for NYBG on many expeditions, and this year he was commissioned by NYBG and the Field Museum for an expedition to the southeastern region of the Bahamian Archipelago from November 22 to December 29. Specifically, the expedition collected 739 numbers on Cat Island, Exuma Cays, Watling Island, Jumentos Cays, Castle Island, Mayaguana Island, and Caicos Islands. Howe accompanied Wilson on this expedition and collected a large series of marine algae. An example of a new species of vascular plant collected on this expedition is Jacquemontia cayensis Britton (Convolvulaceae): http://sweetgum.nybg.org/vh/specimen.php?irn=462359. An example of a new species of green algae collected on the same expedition is Anadyomene howei Littler & Littler (Anadyomenaceae): http://sweetgum.nybg.org/ vh/specimen.php?irn=960066. 1909 Percy Wilson was commissioned to explore the Bimini group, Hog Island, New Providence, and Cay Sal Bank. He collected 537 numbers. An example of a new

The New York Botanical Garden and The Bahama Flora, 1920

159

species he collected on this expedition is Polygala wilsonii Small (Polygolaceae): http://sweetgum.nybg.org/vh/specimen.php?irn=262481. 1910 John K. Small (1869–1938) and Joel J. Carter were commissioned by the NYBG and the Field Museum to undertake an expedition to the central portion of Andros because it was speculated that because the center of this island is fifteen miles from the sea that it might harbor species of plants not found elsewhere in the Bahamas. The results of this expedition were published by Small (1910), and it revealed that only eight species were found by this experienced team that had not been found in the Bahamas previously. These results were taken by Britton and Millspaugh that the previous expeditions had rather well covered the floristic diversity of the Bahamas Archipelago, and the field component of the Flora project was begun to wind down. An example of a new taxon described from collections made on this expedition is Citharexylum fruticosum L. var. smallii Moldenke (Verbenaceae): http://sweetgum. nybg.org/vh/specimen.php?irn=161569. 1911 The final official expedition of the Flora project was undertaken by Millspaugh and his wife Clara Mitchell Millspaugh in February—March of this year. The goal was to survey the most southerly islands in the Archipelago. The Millspaughs made 396 collections from the Turks and Caicos Islands. An example of a new species resulting from this expedition is Lepidium filicaule C. L. Hitchc. (Brassicaceae): http://sweetgum.nybg.org/vh/specimen.php?irn=619676. While the Millspaughs made the last planned expedition for the Flora project, Brace, who remained resident in the Bahamas, continued to correspond with N. L. Britton about the project and on his own to collect plants on New Providence, including a large set (743 numbers) of cryptogams in 1918 and 1919. Original documentation of the expedition leading up to the publication of The Bahamas Flora, in addition to the plant and fungal specimens deposited NY, F, and other herbaria, includes the field notebooks of the principal collectors associated with the project, correspondence, and black and white photographs taken between 1904 and 1907, all deposited in the Archives of the Mertz Library of the NYBG. Some of the photographs have been scanned and are available online, organized into 23 plates, as part of the Nathaniel Lord Britton Travel Albums – Field Photos of the West Indies, through the Mertz Digital Collections from NYBG: http://mertzdigital.nybg.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15121coll2. Contributors to The Bahama Flora, 1920 By 1911, after the Millspaughs’ expedition to the Turks and Caicos Islands, N. L. Britton had concluded that the exploration phase of the Bahamas project had progressed sufficiently that the synthesis and publication of the Archipelago’s flora could be undertaken. As mentioned previously, one of Britton’s great abilities was to assemble a team of researchers around a large scientific project, as most prominently

160

B.M. Boom

evidenced by his leadership of the New York Academy of Sciences’ Scientific Survey of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and his approach to producing The Bahama Flora was no exception. The Bahama Flora reported on a total of 1,982 species, including vascular and nonvascular plants, lichens and fungi, of which 185 species, or about 9.3 %, were considered endemic to the Archipelago. The spermatophytes comprised by far the largest group of plants treated by Britton and Millspaugh, totaling 995 species, of which 133 (13.4 %) were considered endemic to the Bahamas. By comparison, Acevedo-Rodríguez and Strong (2012) reported 10.4 % of the indigenous seed plants of the Bahamas were endemic. The only authors attributed to treatments for the seed plants were N. L. Britton and C. F. Millspaugh themselves, however, Oakes Ames (1874–1950) of Harvard University was credited with consultation on the Orchidaceae for the Flora, and there is correspondence from 1908 in the Mertz Library’s Archives between Ames and Britton in this regard. The pteridophytes reported in the Flora totaled 33 species, none of which were regarded as endemic to the Archipelago. William Ralph Maxon (1877–1948), Smithsonian Institution pteridologist, was the author credited this treatment in the Flora. In addition, Alvah Augustus Eaton (1865–1908), was credited in the Flora with consultation on pteridophytes. Bryophytes recorded for the Flora totaled 69 species. Elizabeth Gertrude Knight Britton was the author of the treatment of mosses, for which one species was regarded at the time as endemic to the Archipelago: Hymenostomum flavescens E. G. Britton (Pottiaceae), http://sweetgum.nybg.org/vh/specimen.php?irn=852215, now classified as Weissia flavescens (E. Britton) W. D. Reese (Pottiaceae), and known in addition from Puerto Rico. The hepatics were treated by Alexander W. Evans (1868–1959), with the exception of the family Ricciaceae, the treatment of which was contributed by Marshall A. Howe. The treatment of the lichens for the Flora was contributed by Lincoln Ware Riddle (1880–1921). Of the 197 lichen species recorded for the Bahamas, Riddle regarded 19 species as endemic to the Archipelago. One of these endemics, Opegrapha bahamensis Riddle (Roccellaceae), is an example of a new species collected in 1918 by Lewis Brace as part of his ongoing botanical exploration of the Bahamas. This collection occurred after the official expeditions of the NYBG to the Archipelago had concluded, but which, as did many others, nonetheless contributed to Flora: http://sweetgum.nybg. org/vh/specimen.php?irn=1463688. The fungi treated in the Flora comprised 180 species, of which 18 were considered endemic. The overall treatment was coordinated and contributed by Fred Jay Seaver (1877–1970), a mycologist at the NYBG from 1908, when he was appointed as Director of Laboratories until his death as Curator Emeritus; Seaver’s professional papers are cataloged at http://sciweb.nybg.org/science2/libr/finding_guide/seavwb3. asp.html. While the treatment in the Flora did include a key to the fungal orders, beyond this the treatment was a checklist to the species. William Alphonso Murrill (1869–1957) contributed the treatment of the subclass Autobasidiomycetes, also as a checklist. The algae, 519 species documented, 19 of which were considered endemic to the Archipelago, had their treatment coordinated by and contributed to for the Flora principally by Marshall Avery Howe (1867–1936), a distinguished phycologist and

The New York Botanical Garden and The Bahama Flora, 1920

161

administrator at the NYBG for some 35 years; Howe’s extensive professional papers are deposited in the Mertz Library of the NYBG and are available online at http://www. nybg.org/library/finding_guide/archv/howe_irb.html. Assisting Marshall Howe, Frank Shipley Collins (1848–1920) contributed the taxonomic treatment of the subclass Myxophyceae, and Charles S. Boyer (1856–1928) contributed the treatment for the subclass Diatomeae. In addition to being important collectors in the production of The Bahama Flora, John K. Small provided critical comparative analysis of the relationships of the Bahamian and Florida floras and in proofreading, and Percy Wilson assisted in the bibliographic, proofreading, and indexing aspects of the Flora. John Hendley Barnhart (1871–1949), long-time librarian and bibliographer at NYBG, assisted with the bibliographic aspects of the Flora. In addition to the specimens deposited at NY and F, specimens borrowed from K and BM were consulted, and William Trelease (1857–1945) of the Missouri Botanical Garden loaned complete original 1890 Bahamian plant collections of Albert S. Hitchcock (1865–1935), comprising 600 sheets, from MO to F, for study by Millspaugh. Of special note is the central, catalytic and enduringly supportive role of Lewis Brace in the entire endeavor to produce The Bahama Flora. Over about a quarter of a century, between 1875 and 1919, Brace collected probably some five thousand plant and fungal specimens, of which at least 28 served as types for new species, and of these at least 8 were named in Brace’s honor: Selaginella bracei Hieron, Poria bracei Murrill (Polyporaceae), Evolvulus bracei House (Convolvulaceae), Cathartolinum bracei Small (Linaceae), Chondrocystis bracei M. Howe (Microcystaceae), Agave braceana Trel., Euphorbia bracei (Euphorbiaceae) Millsp., and Chiodecton bracei Riddle (Roccellaceae). Brace maintained an active correspondence with N. L. Britton during this period, and the information on Bahamian plants’ common names and myriad of other notes transmitted to Britton, are major enhancements to The Bahama Flora. For all these reasons, this paper is dedicated to this underappreciated Bahamian botanist, who focused on assisting others interested in the Archipelago’s flora, rather than publishing upon it himself.

Conclusion Correspondence in the Mertz Library’s N. L. Britton archives indicates that on May 5, 1920, Britton wrote a letter to Charles Schribner Sons with the request that The Bahama Flora be published by that company. Unfortunately, Schribner turned down his request, despite the fact that this company had published Britton’s Flora of Bermuda (1918), and in fact, the Bahamas volume was designed to follow the same style as the Bermuda book. Not to be thwarted in his desire to publish the Bahamas book, he proceeded to do so privately. It seems that Millspaugh had become rather disassociated with the Bahamas project towards its conclusion, as evidenced by a letter in the N. L. Britton archives, dated July 8, 1920, from Millspaugh to Britton on the occasion of the former having just received a copy of the published work. In this one-page congratulatory letter, Millspaugh writes, “I feel as if I hardly merited my name on the title-page so little of the difficult work was I able to assist in. However, I am proud to be associated with you in the work.”

162

B.M. Boom

With the publication of his book on the Bahamas’ flora in 1920, N. L. Britton turned the NYBG’s Caribbean floristic research principally to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. These islands had been the foci for a massive interdisciplinary effort to document the natural history since 1913, with the launch of a scientific survey by the New York Academy of Sciences, an effort for which Britton served as Chairman and champion until his death in 1934 (Colón, 1996). While the Bahamas were not among the major geographic foci for botanical exploration by the NYBG during the Britton era, nor were they of minor importance. The Bahama Flora was the standard and most authoritative reference work on the plants of the Archipelago for over six decades, until the publication of the Flora of the Bahama Archipelago (Correll & Correll, 1982). Britton & Millspaugh’s work was reprinted in 1962 by Hafner Publishing Company, and was digitized in 2007 and is made available electronically through The Biodiversity Heritage Library. The Bahama Flora is an excellent case study of how early 19th century natural science was pursued overseas by scientists from the United States, and N. L. Britton was one of its master practitioners, choreographing scientists, philanthropists, and politicians to produce major original research and to get it into print. Britton’s research productivity was legendary, and it was, in fact, one of his most quoted mantras: “Get it into print”! Acknowledgments The author is grateful to The Bahamas National Trust, the College of the Bahamas, Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden, and Florida International University for organizing the symposium Celebrating 30 Years of the Flora of the Bahamas: Conservation and Science Challenges, and in particular to Javier Francisco-Ortega for inviting him to prepare this paper. The author is especially appreciative to Dennis Wm. Stevenson who, on very short notice, presented this paper at the symposium because the author was unable to arrive in Nassau due to the disruption to airplane travel in late October 2012 caused by Hurricane Sandy. Lisa Vargues, of the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium, provided assistance with researching the Brittons’ archives. The staff of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library kindly provided access to the documents consulted in the research and preparation of this article. The author and the NYBG are very grateful for support (Award number 1053290) from the National Science Foundation for the project Digitization of Caribbean Plants and Fungi in The New York Botanical Garden Herbarium, which enabled Web access to relevant Bahamian specimens consulted for this article. Finally, the Leon Levy Foundation provided support for the author to make visits to Eleuthera for purposes of assisting with development of the botanical information presented on the Web Site of the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve (http://www.levypreserve.org) and for the digitization of relevant specimens of Bahamian plant species deposited in the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium of the NYBG, which are linked to on the Preserve’s Web Site; the author and the NYBG are deeply grateful to the Leon Levy Foundation for this financial support and for the opportunity to be involved in the launch of such a world-class environmental education resource for Eleuthera and all of the Bahamas.

Literature Cited Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & M. T. Strong (eds.). 2012. Catalogue of seed plants of the West Indies. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98: 1–1192. Baatz, S. 1996. Imperial science and metropolitan ambition: the Scientific Survey of Puerto Rico, 1913–1934. Pp. 1–16. In: F. C. Figueroa Colón (ed.), The Scientific Survey of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands: an eightyyear reassessment of the islands’ natural history [Annals of The New York Academy of Sciences 776: 1–264]. Boom, B. M. 1996. Botanical expeditions of The New York Botanical Garden. Brittonia 48: 297–307. Britton, N. L. 1890. Review of the provisional list of the plants of the Bahama Islands. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 17: 187–188. ——— 1904a. Explorations in Florida and the Bahamas. Journal of The New York Botanical Garden 5: 129–136.

The New York Botanical Garden and The Bahama Flora, 1920

163

——— 1904b. Report on exploration of the Bahamas. Journal of The New York Botanical Garden 5: 201–209. ——— 1904c. Salvia bahamensis. Torreya 4: 104–105. ——— 1905. Explorations in the Bahamas. Journal of The New York Botanical Garden 6: 78–85. ——— 1907. Report on the continuation of the botanical exploration of the Bahama Islands. Journal of The New York Botanical Garden 8: 71–81. ——— 1918. Flora of Bermuda. C. Scribner’s Sons, New York. ——— & C. F. Millspaugh. 1920. The Bahama Flora. Privately published. Reprinted 1962 without change of pagination, Hafner Publishing Co. New York. [Since 2007, available electronically through The Biodiversity Heritage Library: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/1494#/summary] Burkill, I. H. 1941. Lewis Jones Knight Brace. Proceedings of the Linnean Society 151: 233–234. Coker, W. C. 1905. Vegetation of the Bahamas Islands. Geographical Society of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD. Colón, J. C. F. (ed.). 1996. The scientific survey of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands: An eighty-year reassessment of the islands’ natural history [Annals of The New York Academy of Sciences 776: 1–264]. Correll, D. S. & H. B. Correll. 1982. Flora of the Bahama Archipelago. J. Cramer, Vaduz. Eaton, D. C. 1875. A list of the marine algae, collected by Dr. Edward Palmer on the coast of Florida and at Nassau, Bahama Islands, March-August 1874. New Haven. Gardiner, J., L. J. K. Brace & C. S. Dolley. 1889. A provisional list of the plants of the Bahamas Islands. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 41: 349–426. Howe, M. A. 1904. Collections of marine algae from Florida and the Bahamas. Journal of The New York Botanical Garden 5: 164–166. Kass, L. B. 2005. Alice Northrop’s type specimens for the Bahama flora. Brittonia 57: 88–101. ——— & W. H. Eshbaugh. 1994. William T. Gillis and the Bahama flora. In: L. B. Kass (ed.), Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium on the Natural History of the Bahamas. The Bahamian Field Station, Ltd. Mickulas, P. 2007. Britton’s botanical empire: The New York Botanical Garden and American botany, 1888– 1929. Memoirs of The New York Botanical Garden 94: 1–317. Millspaugh, C. F. 1904. A new Bahamian Euphorbia. Torreya 4: 172. ——— 1906. Praenunciae bahamenses I. Contributions to a flora of the Bahamian archipelago. Field Columbian Museum. Botanical Series 2: 137–184. ——— 1909. Praenunciae bahamenses II. Contributions to a flora of the Bahamian archipelago. Field Columbian Museum. Botanical Series 2: 289–321. Nash, G. V. 1905. Botanical exploration of the Inagua Islands, Bahamas. Journal of The New York Botanical Garden 6: 1–19. Northrop, A. R. 1902. Flora of New Providence and Andros, with an enumeration of the plants collected by John I. Northrop and Alice R. Northrop, in 1890. Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club 12: 1–98. ——— 1910. Flora of New Providence and Andros. Pp 118–211. In: H. E. Osborn (ed). A naturalist in the Bahamas, John I. Northrop, October 12, 1861–June 25, 1891. Columbia University Press, New York. Sherff, E. E. 1924. Charles Frederick Millspaugh. Botanical Gazette 77: 228–230. Small, J. K. 1910. Report on botanical exploration in Andros, Bahamas. Journal of The New York Botanical Garden 11: 88–101. Vincent, M. A. & R. J. Hickey. In press. Systematics, taxonomy, and the new flora of the Bahamian Archipelago. Botanical Review.