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Correspondence of Charles Peck and G. W. Clinton March 4, 2011 |
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The
Correspondence of Charles
Peck (1833-1917) and George
William Clinton (1807-1885) 1868 part 2 Vol. 5 (176) [B50, three pieces of paper, one a small drawing on
perhaps herbarium paper glued onto the second sheet] My Dear Sir, Very glad am I to hear from you. There has been much inquiry after
you of late and I am no longer obliged to say I have not heard from you in a
long time. "Rev. M. A. Curtis, Hillsborough, is
the address of the fungus man. You doubtless know him by his botanical
reputation. I quote the portion of his letter to which I took the liberty to
allude. "I have had a treatise on the edible mushrooms of In his Catalogue of the plants of I had been testing in a small way Rafinesque's rule for determining
poisonous species and found it entirely unreliable. Judge of my satisfaction
when Dr. Curtis, without knowing what I had been doing, wrote thus, "The
direction of the Cookery books to test the quality of mushrooms by an onion
or a silver spoon - these becoming discolored by a poisonous species - is
sheer nonsense. I have tried with the most poisonous kinds and the spoon when
it came out, if changed at all, was brighter." I use the microscope only by daylight, believing it to be bad for
the eyes to use it in artificial light. I have looked over a part of my Phaenogams
- find Vaccinium caespitosum
(in fruit only) from the top of I have known the berries from my boyhood - we called them
"Cream berries" - but had carelessly passed the plant by
botanically as a variety of R. occidentalis. A
careful examination reveals more differences than are sometimes used to make
species. Its mode of growth and appearance is like that of R. occidentalis, but the prickles are more numerous and
straight (sometimes recurved on the
flowering branches and petioles) the veinlets
are more prominent on the underside of
the leaves, calyx hispid, berries when fully ripe dark red with a whitish bloom. Their taste is like
neither the red nor the black raspberries but quite as rich and
pleasant as either. There is a specimen of Tillaea simplex in
the Beck Collection, in
general appearance not unlike the plant sent in my last, but
the details differ. Mine has
constantly 2 sepals, petals, &c., which will make it come under Elatine.
I send a sketch of the parts of the flower, something as they appeared when fresh [pencil
drawing on card glued to the page]. I think it must be one of two things Elatine Americana var. or Elatine
- n.sp., the
large rose colored spreading petals constituting its chief distinctive feature, its small size,
slender stems, close and erect growth
giving it a peculiar look. I want yet to examine the seeds under the microscope.
Mrs. Peck joins me in kindest regards. Very truly yours Charles H. Peck Judge G. W. Clinton Received Nov. 5 &
answered Vol. 5 (182) [B44] My Dear Sir, I shall be able to furnish you a specimen of the Potamogeton amplifolius
and of Vaccinium caespitosum
but unfortunately have of the Rubus only the specimens I want to put in the State
Herbarium. It was a little too late,
when I visited Will Carex gynocrates,
the sub-staminate state, be of any interest to you? It is from one of the Jordonville swamps. I shall commence the examination of my Cryptogams soon. [note the RUSH
was due to the fact that the unknown plants would soon all be known, and
whoever knew it first would achieve undying fame] Prof. Hall says the slab containing tracks has not yet been received
from Rev. Mr. Cowles. Very truly yours Charles H. Peck Judge G. W. Clinton Received Nov. 14 Vol. 5 (185) [B40] My Dear Sir, I enclose what they gave me for you at the book store. I have about concluded to call the little Elatine
a distinct species
from I have at least ten species of moss new to the state only one or two
of which are in the Manual. I have also a few new Hepaticae and I think about
200 lichens. I have received from Prof. Braun some descriptions of species of Chara and Nitella.
He attributes, in these papers, a dozen species of these genera to I am working with all my might to get through with my specimens in
time to make up a report (of what I have) for the Secretary by the 1st
January. Yours very truly Charles H. Peck Judge G. W. Clinton Received Nov. 22 Vol. 5 (188) [B37] My Dear Sir, The mosses are No 1 Dicranum scoparium,
L. 2 Atrichum
angustatum, Beauv. 3 Dichelyma
capillaceum, Bryol. Europ. I do not remember receiving this last one from you before. In a recent letter from
Mr. Lesquereux he inquires after you and requests me to give you his sincere regards. Very truly yours Charles H. Peck Judge G. W. Clinton Received Dec. 4 Vol. 5 (193) [B32] My Dear Sir, I had intended to come to I regret thus to be deprived of the pleasure of seeing you and your
collection but shall still hope to do so at a future time. We expect to see you here at the Annual Meeting of the Regents. I have examined the seeds of the little Elatine
sent you some time ago
and send you the result in a rude sketch. They appear to be
pitted at intervals,
the interspaces being about equal to the diameter of the impressions. In I have also looked at Nuttalls figure of
his [Cryta?] minima and find the stem there represented as having
6 tubes. In my plant there are 8. I have concluded to describe it as a n.sp. and with your permission I
will dedicate it to you as a token of
regard for your many acts of kindness to
me and for your earnest labors in botany. I find in Torrey and Gray's Flora of North America the following reference,
apparently, to my Rubus neglectus.
It is under their description of R. occidentalis " Mr. Oakes sends specimens collected
by Mr. Robbins at Cambridge, Vermont, which are said to bear fruit
intermediate between the two, and the habit of the plant is apparently
intermediate. 'It is distinguished by the inhabitants and was pointed out by
them'. The specimens seem to belong rather to R. strigosus." These remarks confirm me in my belief that it is a good species, for
I am sure
they would never have referred the plant I have in mind, to R. strigosus,
if they had seen it growing or had been supplied with good specimens. Its mode of growth is just like
R. occidentalis - in a clump or bush with long recurved stems. Yours very truly Charles H. Peck Judge G. W. Clinton Received Dec. 14, answered
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