Page 105 - Early Naturalists of the Black Range

Drymaria depressa, Pinewoods Drymary; Boechera perennans - Watson (Arabis angulata), were collected by Metcalfe and determined by Greene - as were many more.
This arrangement was very successful. In “Descriptions of New Plants Preliminary to the Report Upon the Flora of New Mexico” by Wooton and Standley (Contributions from the United States National Herbarium, Vol. 16) the authors note that they “have included several plants determined as new species by Dr. E. L. Greene, but never described. These are principally from the collections made by Mr. O. B. Metcalfe. Many other plants of Mr. Metcalfe’s collections, distributed under new names, we have associated with published species.” (p. 112)
Greene had a history in southwestern New Mexico, but when Metcalfe was collecting Greene was in the East, never to return. Why then, was Metcalfe sending specimen sheets to Greene for species determinations? Metcalfe was a student of E. O. Wooton, a significant figure in the history of New Mexico botany. Greene, however, was the big name of the era. Having a working relationship with Greene was a significant accomplishment. Even more importantly, Greene and Wooton subscribed to the same taxonomic philosophy; Greene and the “splitters” had succeeded in ousting the old guard, giants like Asa Gray. For Metcalfe, working with both Greene and Wooton was “career enhancing”, and simply based on his collecting efforts, Metcalfe remains a major figure in the botanical history of southwestern New Mexico.
And then in 1905 his botanical career seems to have stopped.
Platanus wrightii, Arizona Sycamore, Collected in Animas Creek by O. B. Metcalfe on May 7, 1905, species determination by E. L. Greene. The Sycamores of the Animas Creek are disjunct from the populations to the west.
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