The Walking Botanist: Celebrating Charles Wright
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
October 29, 1811
Today we celebrate the birthday of Charles Wright born on this day in Wethersfield, Connecticut.
Wright embodied the spirit of botanical exploration in early America, becoming one of the most trusted plant collectors for the renowned botanist Asa Gray [pronounced: AY-suh GRAY].
Perhaps no story better captures Wright's dedication than his remarkable 673-mile walk during the 1849 expedition from Galveston to El Paso.
Picture this: a solitary figure trudging through the Texas wilderness, vasculum [pronounced: VAS-kyoo-lum] slung over his shoulder, collecting specimens in conditions that would discourage the hardiest of souls.
He once wrote,
...sleep all night if you can in the rain and walk twelve to twenty-five miles next day in the mud and then overhall [sic] a huge package of soaked plants and dry them by the heat of the clouds.
Wright's perseverance paid off magnificently.
During this Texas expedition alone, Wright collected 1,400 species, many previously unknown to science.
His discoveries included the beautiful Penstemon baccharifolius [pronounced: PEN-steh-mon back-ar-ih-FOH-lee-us] and the striking Castilleja lanata [pronounced: kas-tih-LAY-ha lah-NAH-ta], now known as woolly Indian paintbrush.
Wright's legacy lives on in countless ways.
The ethereal Wright's fishhook cactus (Sclerocactus uncinatus var. wrightii) [pronounced: skler-oh-KAK-tus un-sin-AY-tus RIGHT-ee-eye] bears his name, as does the entire genus Carlowrightia [pronounced: kar-low-RIGHT-ee-ah]. Even the American grey flycatcher (Empidonax wrightii) [pronounced: em-PID-oh-naks RIGHT-ee-eye], first spotted near El Paso, commemorates this intrepid botanical explorer.
As you walk through your garden today, consider the botanical pioneers like Charles Wright who quite literally walked thousands of miles to document our native flora.
What unknown plants might still await discovery in your own backyard?