Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/911

NAME PARRY 889 PARRY and the microscope filled in his otherwise leisure hours. Again the winter was passed in San Francisco, from which city he made numerous collecting trips as before. Remain- ing in California, chiefly in the vicinity of San Francisco, until September, 1888, he was busily employed making special collections of Arctostaphylos and Ceanothus, and in the study of these and the genus Alnus. His last visit to California was made in the spring of 1889. Returning to Davenport in July, he made a trip to Canada and New England, visited New York and Philadelphia and re- turned to his home but a few weeks before his death. Parry was recognized as an authority by botanists everywhere ; not only in this coun- try (where he ranked with the first) and in England, but on the Continent as well ; and this notwithstanding the fact that he never published a book, had no ambition in the way of authorship, and left most of his discoveries to be described by others. His writings, though sufficient to constitute vol- umes, and comprising much of great scien- tific value, are scattered in fragmentary form through various government and society re- ports, scientific journals, and the daily press. In 1875 he was made a fellow of the Amer- ican Association for the Advancement of Science, and kept up a corresponding mem- bership in the Philadelphia, Buffalo, St. Louis, Chicago, and California Academies of Science. His name (bestowed by survej'or-genera! F. M. Chase) is borne by a peak of the Snowy Range, to the northwest of Empire City. Besides contributing largely to the collec- tions of his botanical friends and of various societies at home and abroad, he made for himself one of the finest herbaria in the land, a collection, systematically classified and arranged, comprising over 18,000 determined specimens representative of nearly 6,800 spe- together with some 1,400 specimens deter- mined only as far as the genus. To bring the Mexican rose into cultiva- tion, for example, he made an extra trip into Lower California. He was at especial pains to introduce the remarkable Spirsea csspitosa or "tree moss," found in the Wasatch Moun- tains. Every region he explored was viewed not alone with the botanist's searching eye, but was studied as well in its topographical and climatic aspects, as affecting its economic possibilities. Deeply affectionate, almost extravagantly fond of children, and with a sense of humor which often sparkled in his home conver- sation, he was yet so reticent that only the intimate few were aware of these traits in his character. With no expensive habits and almost no wants save knowledge, he looked on money as of value chiefly for the amount of this it could procure and diffuse. Dr. Parry discovered during his extensive explorations hundreds of new plants after- wards described by Dr. Gray and by Dr. Engelmann, and his name is firmly fixed in the history of West American botany. While his greatest service has been rendered to botanical science, yet horticulturists will not soon forget that it was Dr. Parry who dis- covered Picea pungens, the beaultiful blue spruce of our gardens; Pinus Engelmanni, Pinus Torreyana, Pinus Parryana, Pinus aristata, and a host of others of beauty and value. Through his zeal and enterprise many plants now familiar to American and Euro- pean gardens were first cultivated. Zizyphus Parryi, Phacelia Parryi, Frasera Parryi, Lilium Parryi, Saxafraga Parryi, Dalea Parryi, Primula Parryi, and many other plants of great beauty or utility bear his name in commemoration of his labors and worthily do him honor. In the vicinity of San Diego, in 1882, as Mr. Orcutt further relates, "he rediscovered the little fern Ophiglossum nudicaule, which he had first found in 1850, and which ever since had been unseen. In the neighborhood of Todos Santos, or All Saints Bay, were discovered the new Ribes viburnifolium, Parry's Mexican rose (Rosa minutifolia, Engelmann), and a dwarf horse-chestnut (Aesculus Parryi) among other new plants"; also, later, in the same region, "the new spice bush (Ptelea aptera. Parry)." The Parry lily (Lilium Parrii, Watson) was dis- covered in 1876 on the ranch of the Ring brothers in Southern California, near San Gorgonio Pass. He wrote important papers on Erigonum, Chorizanthe, Ceanothus and Arctostaphylos, and published several lists of plants of west- ern localities. His herbarium was purchased by the Iowa Agricultural College of Ames, Iowa. It contains about 16,000 specimens. A tolerably full list of his writings can be seen in the "Proc. of the Davenport Acad, of Science." vol. vi. Parry died on the twentieth day of Febru- ary, 1890, at his home in Davenport. Charles H. Preston. The late Dr. C. C. Parry. Pacif. Rural Press, Apr. 12, 1S90. J. G. Lemraon. Portrait.