Archibald Menzies’ Santa Barbara Sojourn: A Botanical Milestone
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
November 18, 1793
On this day, Archibald Menzies (MEN-zeez), the Scottish surgeon-botanist, reluctantly departed Santa Barbara aboard the HMS Discovery during Vancouver's expedition.
Menzies had spent several productive days exploring the Santa Barbara region, making significant botanical discoveries in the hills east of the presidio. With Vancouver's blessing - which wasn't always easily obtained - Menzies had been permitted to venture into the surrounding countryside "for the purpose of collecting plants & examining the natural produce of the country."
Though finding few plants in flower or seed during this late autumn period, Menzies encountered what he described as "beautiful groves of the Evergreen Oak" (what we now know as Coast Live Oak, Quercus agrifolia). He noted these specimens were much larger and more impressive than the "crabbed" ones he had observed around Monterey.
During his brief but productive stay, Menzies made several significant discoveries:
- The Western Sycamore (Platanus racemosa), which would later be formally named by Thomas Nuttall
- Black Cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa), which would eventually be described by John Torrey and Asa Gray
- A "beautiful monkeyflower" (likely Diplacus aurantiacus, the Bush Monkeyflower) which Menzies noted he "had not before seen anywhere"
The surrounding thickets were alive with wildlife, "swarming with squirrels & quails & a variety of other birds," which provided both specimens for study and fresh meat for the ship's crew. Along the shore, Menzies observed Native Americans catching Pacific Bonito and Yellowtail, fish species that remain prized catches to this day.
Just days before departure, Menzies had explored the extensive salt marshland of what we now call Goleta Slough. Here he found vast stands of what he termed "Samphire" (pickleweed), and noted three Native American villages whose inhabitants were away in the hills gathering acorns - a glimpse into the seasonal rhythms of indigenous life.
As the HMS Discovery and its companion ship Chatham sailed south from Santa Barbara on this day, they would pass the island of Santa Catalina en route to San Diego, where Menzies would make even more botanical discoveries. His careful observations and collections during this expedition would later prove invaluable to the scientific understanding of California's flora.
Today, when we walk through Santa Barbara's oak woodlands or pause beside a towering Western Sycamore, we see the same landscape that caught Menzies' discerning eye over 230 years ago. His legacy lives on in the scientific names of countless plants and in our understanding of California's botanical heritage.
