Page 100 - Early Naturalists of the Black Range

No. 1, p. 158). In that article, Greene described six new species from Southwestern New Mexico, including two species of Lithospermum. He collected L. viride, Greene Gromwell, “in the Mimbres Mountains, near Georgetown, in 1877, and on Swan Mountain, near Silver City, 1880”. The specimen sheet from “June & July” 1880 is the syntype of the species and is shown on the following page. Also on the following page is the type specimen sheet for Lithospermum cobrense, Smooththroat Stoneseed, collected at Santa Rita del Cobre. (In 1880 he also collected other specimens of this species in the area of the Copper Mine and around Silver City.) The L. cobrense description is a redescription, Greene noting in the article that “Doubtless all that has been called L. canescens from New Mexico and Arizona is of this species. According to Dr. Gray it is Wright's No. 1563, Coues and Palmer’s 275, and Rothrock's 202 and 633. That it is distinct from L. canescens, is obvious at first sight of the living plant, by the conspicuous tuft of root leaves. The pale yellow, fragrant flowers are commonly as large as those of L. hirtum. I name the species in reference to that classical locality, Santa Rita del Cobre, where Mr. Wright collected it first, and where I first saw it in 1877.” (p. 158)
No. 4, p. 198). published.
Greene had the following collaborative effort
In the Botanical Gazette issue of March 1881 (Vol. 6, No. 3) he described new species from New Mexico (Pinos Altos area) and Arizona (pp. 183-185). In the June 1881 issue (Vol. 6, No. 6) he added more to the list. (pp. 217-219)
In the days before the internet, collaboration was slower, but it occurred. In the April 1881 issue of the Botanical Gazette (Vol. 6,
Greene continued to publish prolifically throughout his career. His early publications focused on new concepts of taxonomic classification. That approach brought him into conflict with many other botanists including Asa Gray. Gray and Greene were not the best of friends, or perhaps it is better to say that their relationship was interesting. Greene challenged Gray’s taxonomic order and Gray did not like that. Sometimes their critique of the other’s work was blunt and unflattering. Later in his career, Greene focused on the history of botany and published Landmarks of Botanical History, Part 1, in 1909. Part 2 was unfinished.
The fights over taxonomy were bitter and personal. Greene’s personality contributed to the conflict. In “Ninety Years After Greene”, Eugene Jercinovic states “Contentions that Greene strongly influenced the course of botany in the United States, that he had a powerful effect on botanical nomenclature, that he was a prodigious collector and describer of plants, that he was an important contributor to the emergence of a western school of botany in the U. S., are indisputable. Assertions that he refused the judgments of others, that he was quick to dismiss and sarcastically decry the work of peers, that he felt his capabilities of observation were superior to those of other botanists, and that he did not work smoothly with others, are hardly deniable.” In the camp with Gray was Thomas Coulter who wrote about Greene (from Jercinovic above) “In a letter to Sereno Watson on June 12, 1890, ‘If he could only quietly pass away in one of his apoplectic fits, how much better for American botany!’“ (per Jercinovic) On the other side of the battle line, supporting Greene were C. C. Parry and Willis L. Jepson.
Gray spent much of his life describing plants collected by others, and Jercinovic notes that Greene “felt that a true understanding of plants could only be gained in the field and that ‘closet’ botanists could not possibly understand the subtle differences between plants observed while alive.” Greene challenged “the establishment” on many fronts. His contributions have stood the test of time well.
In one of his obituaries it was noted that “He was indeed a man of many moods and fancies; was often shy but never timid; always had many friends and many enemies. He was egotistical,
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