LONG ISLAND BOTANICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER September - October 1995 Vol. 5, No. 5 In This Issue IN THE FIELD WITH ROY LATHAM, #2 Eric Lamont has edited In The Field With Roy Latham, II. In this installment Eric put together excerpts from letters Roy Latham sent Stanley Smith. Lance Biechele has written an introduction to the Myxomycetes of Long Island. This is a fascinating group of organisms that may or may not be plants or fungi. This article was submitted early in the year but do to space limitations it was held until now. Gil Raynor 1918 - 1995 Gil Raynor died on July IS T995, Paul Stoutenburgh has written an obituary of this remarkable Long Island naturalist. PROGRAMS 12 September 1995 - 7:30 pm. Dr. Ann Johnson, "Comparison of the Flora of Acid, Sandy Soils at Apalachicola National Forest, Florida, and the Napeague Cranberry Bogs, Long Island, New York." Museum of Long Island Natural Sciences, SUNY at Stony Brook (For directions: to MOLINS call 516/632-8230). 10 October 1995 - 7:30 pm, Sherman Wolfson, "Native Orchids of Long Island." Museum of Long Island Natural Sciences, SONY at Stony Brook. (For directions to MOLINS call 516/632-8230). Prologue Included in this contribution are eight excerpts from letters of Roy Latham (1881-1979) to Stanley Jay Smith (1915-1978). Stanley Smith was Curator of Botany of the New York State Museum from 1947 until near the time of his death. The original letters are currently on file at the New York State Museum in Albany. I thank Richard Mitchell and Charles Sheviak for kindly making the documents available for study, and for permission to publish them. Roy Latham (1920); Photograph courtesy of Diana Latham "At Montauk a few years ago I found one plant of Liatris scariosa [Blazing Stars] with white Long Island Botanical Society September - October 1995 Page 27 flowers. It is the only one I have seen with white flowers among thousands of the regular color. Do you know if it is rare in the species? The books I have do not mention it. White flowers occur so often in many species that there is no reason why they should not occur in this one. I am just wondering if others have seen them. I find on the sea beach, especially at Montauk, a very wooly yarrow with narrow leaves; I have thought with some doubt that this plant is Achillia lanulosa. I will send some in for you to look at. It may be only an extreme form of our common yarrow which is so common everywhere. " [Letter from Roy Latham to Stanley Smith; 24 March 1950]. Stanley Smith; Photograph courtesy of N.Y.S. Museum "William Ferguson and I were frequent field companions and collected together in most of the eastern Long Island stations. Ferguson was a very keen botanist with an extra ordinary interest in the subject, especially as it applied to Long Island. I often heard him say "I am as enthusiastic as a school boy." He was a chemist by trade, but I believe in his later years was able to give almost all of his time to botanical studies during the summers on Long Island. He spent his winters in Florida. As you have stated, most of his collections are at the New York Botanical Garden. Mrs. Ferguson gave all his botanical books and collecting outfit to me after he died and when I was there his collection was packed ready to be moved to the Garden. Mr. Ferguson was stone deaf, the most deaf man I ever knew. I had to shout right into his ear to make him hear at all. Perhaps I am just telling you a lot you already know, and you may have known him better than I did." [Letter from Roy Latham to Stanley Smith; 24 April 1950]. ******* "The other day near Roanoke Landing on the Sound shore about five miles north of Riverhead, I found a Hemlock tree in the rolling woods. There are about 275 acres of woodland in the tract and the man who owns the farm told me that about 50 years ago several Hemlock trees were scattered throughout the woods and there should be at least three there now. There are no records of settlements in the region and the trees have all indications of being natives. The tree I saw does not appear like a very old tree, but they told me it was there 50 years ago. I have never found the Hemlock wild in the woods before, although it escapes occasionally around yard borders. Also in the woods were numbers of Azalea nudiflora [Pinkster- flower] just showing flowers. This is really not a common species on eastern Long Island." [Letter from Roy Latham to Stanley Smith; 23 May 1950]. ******* "I saw in the paper that Dr. House died. I was indeed sorry to hear that happen. I had been in contact with him by letter ever since he first took office at the State Museum, and that was a long time ago. However, I had never met him face to face in all that time. He had collected some on Long Island and had planned to call on me but never reached Orient. I am a farmer by business and the best time to find me free from farm work is in May and June, although the best collecting time would be later on in the summer and early fall. From the first of July on into late fall I have no time to plan any appointments ahead. If I get a Long Island Botanical Society September - October 1995 Page 28 half day now and then, or part of a Sunday, I go on a collecting trip." [Letter from Roy Latham to Stanley Smith; 24 January 1950]. +++++++ "Yesterday at Fresh Meadow, Three Mile Harbor, north of East Hampton, I found a colony of Carex that appeared so different from anything in that genus I have seen that I collected a couple of specimens to send to you thinking perhaps you would recognize the species even in the immature condition. ... Later 1 will try to get matured specimens, whenever that may be. I noticed large beds of flowering Bird-foot Violets along the sides of the Three Mile Harbor Road for a distance of two miles. About a thousand acres of my best collecting grounds west of Riverhead were burned over this week and there was another fire near East Hampton which got many fine species of plants." [Letter from Roy Latham to Stanley Smith; 26 May 1951], +++++++ "What do you know about the Hahenaria cristata [Crested Fringed Orchid] we have here on Long Island? Several botanists have told me that our species on the island is a good hybrid because the flowers are bright lemon yellow instead of the usual orange color of this species in the south." [Letter from Roy Latham to Stanley Smith; 13 August 1951]. +++++++ "Last week I found one clump of Lycopodium lucidulum [Shining Clubmoss] in a white cedar swamp north of Riverhead. It appears to be a very rare species on Long Island. About 30 years ago I found a few plants near Greenport, but they died out after the woods were drained. I have been looking for a new station ever since without luck until last week. I will have a specimen for you later with other things. So far as I know, this is the third station for this clubmoss on the island, unless others have discovered it in recent years. [Letter from Roy Latham to Stanley Smith; 27 May 1957]. i