Herbarium 110+ dried plant specimens [Northern California/Crescent City] circa 1880s-1890s? ~ antique, dried flowers, herbaria

Title: [Herbarium] 110+ dried plant specimens [Northern California] on tipped-in blanks in a repurposed 1851 Canada Business Directory

Description: Book repurposed as a herbarium. Embossed black leather over boards with gilt lettering on spine. A modified 692-page directory with an interleaved herbarium displaying dried plant specimens on more than 110 blank sheets. Each of the blanks has been affixed to the stub of an excised page. Specimens are evenly distributed throughout the entire book. They are typically separated by one or two original directory pages. Most specimens are intact, occasionally showing a bit of loss. Several show some crumbling or are detached. A few are fully dissipated or lost.

The region of specimen collection appears to be primarily Northern California (there are a few references to Crescent City), possibly extending to Oregon (one reference). Some specimens appear to be common in Southern California. There are also a couple handwritten references to Nelson Creek (possibly in Shasta County?). The volume has no ownership identification. It was perhaps assembled by a member of a family that had emigrated from Canada to settle in California in the mid- to late-nineteenth century. The date of the creation of the herbarium is uncertain, but is likely sometime from the later-nineteenth century. [For reference, the volume was acquired in Santa Rosa, California.]

The majority of specimens are identified with Latin name and occasionally common names. The identified specimens include: Buttercup, Wall Rockcress, Violet (several), Miner's lettuce, baby white eyes, baby blue eyes, Nemophila striata, fivespot, Dwarf brodiacea, Shooting star/American cowslip (Oregon), Lemon sunset, Evening primrose, Godetia, Clover, Iris, Red trillium, Elegant clarkia, Epilobium[?], Calandrinia, Mimulus/monkey flower, San Diego monkey flower, Trientalis americanis (Crescent City), Erodium, Polygonatum/Solomon's Seal, [?] conferta, Gilia capitata, Linanthus dichotomus/Evening snow, Abronia umbellata, Eryngium, Phalangium, Ranunculus/Crowfoot, Delphinium/Larkspur (Nelson Creek), Bartsia alba, Castilleja (three), Silene[?], Phlox, Salal, Cyclobothra, Calathea lutean, Isatis, Dicentra formosa, Linaria/Toadflax, Hydrocotyle/Water pennyworts, Anagallis arvensis/Scarlet pimpernel, Hypericum/St John's wort, Lupinus, Silver Bush lupine, Erythronium americanum/Yellow trout lily, and Medicago sativa/alfalfa.

Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good

Keywords: California, Northern California, Del Norte County, Crescent City, Oregon, Western North America, flora, dried flowers, dried plants, botany, herbaria,