Carl Purpus, Plant
Collector in Western America Transcribed by Barbara Ertter
| Carl Purpus, Plant
Collector in Western America | Letters of Carl A. Purpus -- 1896 |
| Transcribed by Barbara Ertter | |
 
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1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1905, 1906, 1907
| | Carl A. Purpus to Katharine Brandegee, 1/4/1896
[No. 1: 4 January 1896] Daunt P.O. 4/1 96 Madame K. Brandegee. Dear Madame! My brother send me some plants I have collected in the Coast-Range of Mendocina, Lake, Glenn Co. I would like to have determined. Please let me know, if You will kindly determine those plants too. If You wish to have a list of plants I collected in those said Counties, please let me know it. I can not send the list of plants I collected last summer untill I know all the names, especially of those I send to Prof. Koehne and Beisner as the oaks, Coniferae etc. If I can anything do for You please let me know it. I have not got that Arbutus yet, but will get it next spring. Yours very truly C. A. Purpus N. b. Are You interested in the flora of Colorado too? I found some new species of Cacteae there as: Echinocactus glaucus Schu. Mamillaria Purpusii M. Spaethiana etc!
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West peak of Snow Mountain, California, July 1989.
Penstemon purpusii on Snow Mountain; Sanhedrin and Mount Hull beyond.
Locations: Snow Mountain. San Juan Range. Uncompahgre Range. Articles that refer to this letter:
| Carl A. Purpus to Katharine Brandegee, 1/28/1896
[No. 2: 28 January 1896] Daunt P.O. 20/1 96 Madame Brandegee. Dear Madam! Many thanks for that list and Your kind letter I received yesterday. I send You today a few plants from my brother as samples and which I collected as You will see on Snow Mountain, for kind determination. the bulk of the plants I expect in a few days by Express from Europe and will transfer them to You for the same purpose as soon, as I will have them. I will write today to Germany for a list of the plants I collected in Colorado and which are (partly) determined by Prof. Coulter except the Cacteae, which are determined by Prof. Dr. K. Shumann in Berlin also partly as: Echinocactus glaucus, Mamillaria Purpusii, M. Spaethiana, the Opuntiae are not yet determined as far, as I know; but I will find it out first. I would like to have some rare plants and will be ever so much obliged for sending them to me, also for sending me a bot. pick, although I have one, but Yours mai be of a better pattern. Would not Mr. Brandegee have the kindness to give me some information about the Geological formation of Uncompahgre and San Juan Range in Colorado. As far, as I could see that what we kall Sediment-formation in Germany is Trias or triassic and the plutonic Porphyr, Melaphyr and similar rocks and some volcanic eruptions took place after the plutonic eruption, as the country or Mountain region around Mt. Sneffles etc. shows. I would also be very thankful for some information about the Geological formation of the Mountain region in the Sierra, where I collected last summer. I am not quite sure if the Sedimentre Formation is "Silur" and the plutonic allways Granite and Syenit. N. b.! I wrote for those labels You desire today and I will send them to You as soon, as I will have them. Yours very truly C. A. Purpus.
| | Carl A. Purpus to Katharine Brandegee, 2/20/1896
[No. 3: 2X February 1896] Daunt P.O. 2[?]/II 96 Tulare Co. Madame K. Brandegee. Dear Mrs. Brandegee! I have not heard from You for a long time, perhaps You wrote and send me an other list and I never received it. Some time ago I received those plants, which my brother has send for determination and if You do no object I would forward them to You for kind examination. Hoping to hear from You soon I remain very sincerely Yours C. A. Purpus.
| Locations: Kaweah Peak. Tule River.
| Carl A. Purpus to Katharine Brandegee, 3/12/1896
[No. 4: 12 March 1896] Daunt P.O 12/III 96 Madame Kath. Brandegee. Dear Mrs. Brandegee! Very many thanks for that list I received today and I was very glad to get. Enclosed You will find some Azollas, which I collected on Tule-River near Daunt, will You kindly tell me, if they are both Azolla carolin. or A. filiculoides. That green species looks a little different from the red one, but that may depend on soil etc, some are found floating in water and others growing in wet soil. I wrote to Dr. Behr about finding Azolla and he thinks it might be A. filiculoides. I start for the mountains in the first days of June and intend to collect on those high peaks east of Mineral King, especially Kaweah Peak. If Mr. Brandegee will be kind enough to give me some information about that mountain region I will be very thankful to him. Please let me know, if You have special wishes for certain species, and I will be ever so glad to fulfill them. Yours very sincerely C. A. Purpus.
| | Carl A. Purpus to Katharine Brandegee, 4/6/1896
[No. 5: 6 April 1896] Daunt P.O. 6/4 96 Madame Kath. Brandegee. Dear Mrs. Brandegee! I thank you resp. Mr. Brandegee most cordially for sending that very valuable information/report of the dead Valley Expedition, which I was delighted to receive. If You are not in a hurry to have it back again, I would like to study that book very thoroughly. Some days ago I was sending that plants I collected in the Coast-Range for kind determination, for Express, and I think it will be in Your possession when You obtain this letter. Enclosed You will find Some of those etiquettes [labels] I was writing about. Today I received 1000 of them. Please write me, if You desire to have all these etiquettes or only one part of them. It makes no difference to me, if You take them all, because I do not need them. Do You wish to have plants I am collecting at present in the hills frome 2-4000 feet or not? If so I will collect some more as usual. There is a beautyful Iris in blossom at present, if Iris Douglas., I have not seen yet, grows that far south, may be it is this species. I also found a Berberis (Mahonia), which I do not know, but it is not yet in bloom. Very sincerely Yours C. A. Purpus. N. b. Of Draba Eurycarpa Gr. I did not have any species with flowers, but will find some next summer.
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Owens Lake from Olancha Peak, California.
Locations: Owens River Valley. Articles that refer to this letter:
| Carl A. Purpus to Katharine Brandegee, 9/15/1896
[No. 7 (postcard): 15 September 1896] Daunt P.O. 15/9 96 Dear Madame. I got back from my tour through the South Eastern Sierra yesterday. The collection I have made, is a pretty good one again. A good many plants which are new to me I collected in Owens-River-Valley and on the eastern slopes of the Sierra. Back in to those high peaks I could not go, because the sheep of those french herders had perfectly cleaned out the meadows or little grassy spots in there, so I found no feed for the animals. Yours, very respectfully C. A. Purpus That Echeveria No. 1415 is a new 1 species and named after me by Prof. C. Schumann Berlin
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Owens Lake from Olancha Peak, California. 
Joshua Tree Woodland near Walker Pass. 
Argus Range across desert. 
North end of Coso Mountains. Locations: Argus Mountains. Argus Range. Coso Mountains. Cottonwood Creek Canyon. Owens River Valley. Owens Valley. Walker Pass. Articles that refer to this letter:
| Carl A. Purpus to Katharine Brandegee, 10/27/1896
[s.n.: 27 October 1896] Daunt P.O. 27/X 96 Madame Katherine Brandegee. Dear Madame! I wrote You a few lines on a postal card before I started on my second tour over Walker pass into the desert and from there to Owens-River Valley, which I hope You have received. My collection, as I wrote You is a tolerably good one I found a great many plants which are new to me. In Cottonwood Creek Caon Owens-Valley I found a beautyful Opuntia, which goes as high as to the belt of Pinus Murrayana, that will be about 7-8000 feet, and in Coso Mo. I found a beautyful Echinocactus with pink spines, which is very likely Ech. polycephalus. As soon, as I will find the time I will send You the plants, also Your share. I got back day before yesterday and have been busy all the time in sifting my collections. If possible let me know the names of the plants I sent to You for kind determination. I hope You have received the seeds of Lupinus and Cruciferae I have send You before I started on my first tour. Next summer I intend to visit the Coso and Argus Mountains and I will very glad if I can make a collection there for You too. Hoping to hear soon from I remain Yours very respectfully C. A. Purpus N.b. Purshia glandulosa which the dead Valley Expedition found in the Panamint Mo. on the East slope of Walker pass etc. I found also very abundant on the mountain slopes of Cottonwood-Creek Caon, also Forestiera NeoMexicana Gray, Chamaebatiaria Millefolium etc.
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South entrance to Potter Valley, California, May 1988.
Locations: Potter Valley. Articles that refer to this letter:
| Carl A. Purpus to Katharine Brandegee, 12/4/1896
[s.n., 2 pp.: 4 December 1895] Daunt P.O. 4/XII 95 Madame Kath. Brandegee. Dear Madame! I am perfectly delighted for sending me allready the names of so many plants, and I hardly know how to express my thanks for Your great kindness. I was very glad to learn, that my collection is such an interesting once. I could not say much about it, because the place is new to me and because I have no flora. I will not sell plants to You, but will be perfectly happy to make a collection for You of all plants You mai desire on my tour next summer. I will be ever so much obliged to You Madame and also to Mr. Brandegee for kind information of any kind.-- You are perfectly right, I made a mistake in writing on both sides of the labels, but by the same time I had to pack a large box of plants, I have send to Germany and was hurried so much by my brother (Inspector of the bot. Garden Darmstadt) who has to label and send those plants to the bot. Museum at Berlin, so I hope You will excuse me.-- Yes, those sheepmen and their flocks ought to be exterminated unter all circumstances, they sooner, they better. It is not only a pity, no it is a shame and a sin to see those nasty sheep ruin that wonderful Mountain region and it's flora. It was more, than I could stand, and it made me so mad, that I more than a dozen time a day said to my guide "I could kill every one of those sheep", although I never kill animals except rattlesnakes! But still there is an other class of men, who is just as bad, as the sheep herders. I mean "the woodchoppers". I have been in the Sequoia region yesterday, and seen men resp. brutes! there cutting Sequoia "horribile ditn[?]" for posts!! It is simply an outrage and I got so mad about it that I felt as if I ought to pick up a club an knocking them down.-- I have the same kind of labels as You and even more complete,--enclosed you will find a sample--but not here, because my brother labels the plants, as I allready wrote You. The list of my plants I will send to You as soon, as possible. I will also write to my cousin Nettie in Potter Valley for Arbutus Purpusii, she will press You limbs with berries, if you desire, if not with flowers next spring. I collected roots of Dicentra pauciflora, but I have plant them in a pot, as soon as they come up, I will send You some. What species is Pentstemon No. 1393 You forgot to say that.-- My name is Purpus. Pourpus in french, as my family is an old Huguenot family of Rochefort in France, droven out of the Country for their religion. I expect You will find my English not very correct, but if I tell You, that I never studied that language in school You will excuse. Sincerely Yours C. A. Purpus. N.b. Enclosed You will find a list of shrubs, trees etc determined by Prof. Dr. Koehne at Berlin and collected in the Coast-Range and in Western Colorado, please return it again. C.A.P.
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Sheep near Stampede Reservoir, California. 
Foxtail pine on Tawny Point, Bighorn Plateau, California.
Mount Whitney from Lone Pine Creek.
Locations: Argus Range. Mount Whitney. Articles that refer to this letter:
| Carl A. Purpus to Katharine Brandegee, 12/19/1896
[s.n.: 19 December 1896] Daunt P. O. 19/XII 96 Madame K. Brandegee. Dear Madame! I received Your kind letter and also the names of the plants a few days ago and thank You ever so much. Yesterday I finished the list of plants and will send it with this letter. I have mentioned all the plants I have collected and marked those, which are allready determined. The plants, which I have collected this summer embrace over 400 species, among them many I collected last summer. In April I will leave for the Paute region and after that I intend to explore the Argus Mountains. It is of no use to go a third time in to these Mountains, because I think I have collected almost everything worth collecting and because the feed in that big sheeppasture--the Sequoia park not included--is getting so scarce, that it is quite impossible to stay on one place for more than three to four days. It was worse this summer, than I ever have seen it before and I would not have been surprised to see some of those Basks with their flocks on the very top of Mt. Whitney; They pretty near reached the top of Old Mt. Whitney though, and when they had cleanded[sic] out every grass spot in the so called reservation--that name is nothing but a mockery--the[y] went into the Sequoia park allthough protected by soldiers of the U. St. Army.--If I can do anything for You next summer I will be ever so glad, there may be something of interest left in those regions.--Which Cactus would You like to have, those I found here or those I collected in Colorado? I found a very interesting Opuntia in 7-8000 feet altitude, reaching the belt of Pinus Murrayana in Cottonwood Creek Caon with beautyful deep rose red flowers and on my second tour a beautyful Echinocactus with red spines in the Coso Mo., which I think is Ech. polycephalus. On foot of Olancha Peak I found a very interesting Variety of Artemisia trident. with very small leafs and silver white all over, and around here a Fritillaria which is new to me and an Iris with large blue f[l]owers. You will find those plants mentioned among the others. I expect I will be ready to send them next week. I felt very sorry, that You have not been well. Insomnia is a pretty bad evil and nothing can be done with medicine at all. They less you take the better You are off. Hoping to hear soon from You again. I remain, Yours very respectfully C. A. Purpus
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