Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 74.djvu/247

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BOTANY AT ST. LOUIS
243

settled at Wilmington, Delaware, in 1873. While here he finished his book and published it. Repeated attacks of rheumatism compelled him to seek a warmer climate, and he and his brother went to the island of Trinidad. They lived at Port of Spain, landing in June, 1877; here the remainder of his life was spent in making botanical observations and collecting, especially among the ferns. Advancing age restricted his

Fig. 14. House built by August Fendler in Allenton, Missouri, and occupied by him during his residence here from 1864 to 1871. The small ell has been added by subsequent owners.

efforts to the immediate neighborhood, and when this was exhausted he did but little. His death occurred in November, 1883.

An appreciation of his work from one who knew him best follows:

It is needless to say that Fendler was a quick and keen observer and an admirable collector. He had much literary taste, and had formed a very good literary style in English, as his descriptive letters show. He was excessively diffident and shy, but courteous and most amiable, gentle and delicately refined. Many species of his own discovery commemorate his name, as also a well marked genus, Fendlera, a Saxifragaceous shrub which is winning its way into ornamental cultivation.[1]
  1. Gray, Asa, Amer. Jour. Sci. and Arts, 3d series, 29: 169, 1885.