Frederick William Thurow

in 1876, Frederick W. Thurow began a 55-year effort to compile a list of native and naturalized plants of the Houston area, including Harris, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller Counties. Including 1596 flowering plants, 35 ferns and fern allies, 67 mosses and liverworts, and 25 lichens. The list was updated over 31 years by Robert Vines and published in 1963, and many of the underlying specimens are held at Sam Houston State University. Given the extensive cultivation, grazing, burning, clearing and paving in the Houston area, this document represents a valuable and irreplaceable record.