Perhaps Purdy’s collecting was not as damaging as it might appear. But as to the survival of his sale plants around the world, I think we know how that went. The following are also from the article: _________________________________________ Even while alive Purdy's harvesting practices were criticized by some as leading to the depletion of California's population of native bulbs and flowers. "Purdy disagreed, explaining that his technique (the same approach used by the Native Americans in their harvest of bulbs for food) of separating the smaller bulbs and replanting them, in fact, ensured greater growth and volume of future plants." [Mendocino County Museum "A Passion for Plants & Place, p.9] Rather, Purdy blamed livestock grazing, invasive grasses, and lack of brush clearing fire as described in his 1930 lecture at the New York Botanical Garden for the loss of California's wild flowers. Purdy, unlike Burbank, didn't hybridize plants but instead gathered plants and bulbs, particularly native lilies, on his field trips throughout Northern California. Purdy would then propagate these bulbs and sell them by the thousands to Eastern and European nurseries. > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2023 07:14:11 -0700 > From: Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org> > To: pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > Subject: Re: [pbs] Carl Purdy info trove > Message-ID: <63983de5-4058-8648-e346-1bf93d4833fd@mcn.org> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed > > It is unfortunate that someone who cared so much about California's > native bulbs was responsible for the loss of so many. For those of you > who did not read the whole article there is this: > "Carl sent the bulb to a plant dealer in New Jersey who promised to pay > him $1.50 for each 100 bulbs he could send. The dealer was Woolson & > Co., of Passaic, New Jersey; the firm's 1883 catalog includes a dozen > species of Calochortus bulbs collected by Purdy. The Woolson catalog has > been digitized by Mertz Library staff and may be accessed here.? Purdy > would go on to establish a major nursery company specializing in the > native plants and flowers of California especially its bulbs. His firm, > at its peak of production, harvested over half a million native bulbs > from the wild per year for export to dealers around the globe." > > This reminds me of a story about Wayne Roderick who also loved native > bulbs and would take visitors from other countries to see them in the > wild, but would threaten to leave them without transportation back if > they dared to dig a bulb. > > Mary Sue > >> On 7/17/2023 4:38 PM, Paige Woodward via pbs wrote: >> Here is an online presentation from the NY Botanical Garden: >> >> The Man from Ukiah: >> Carl Purdy and the Bulbs and Wild Flowers of California _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> PBS Forum https://…