Autumn’s Wild Garden: Seeds, Berries, and Blossoms in St. Louis, 1900

October 7, 1900

Dearest reader,

On this day, the pages of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch were graced with a celebration of autumn’s wild floral bounty, brought forth by the Engelmann Botanical Club in the grand Public Library Building.

The exhibition unveiled to many the sheer profusion and quiet beauty of the uncultivated flowers native to the St. Louis region, a revelation for city dwellers and country visitors alike.

Miss Ellen C. Clark, the club’s esteemed President, charmed young and old with her observation that the table most beloved by children was not one of blooms but of fruits and seeds—those magical vessels of propagation. She marveled at the pods of milkweed and dogbane, their seeds adorned with soft hairs designed to catch the breeze, and the brilliant berries of dogwood, buckthorn, coralberry, and pokeberry, each with its own allure and secret promise of renewal.

The Engelmann Botanical Club itself was a relatively young institution at the time, having been formed just over two years prior. Its name honors Dr. Engelmann, a distinguished St. Louis physician renowned for his botanical scholarship, despite a busy medical practice. A fitting tribute, indeed, for a man who pursued knowledge as fervently as any gardener tends her beloved beds.

J. H. Kellogg provided eloquent commentary on the stunning array of blossoms on display. Gentians, lobelias, asters, and goldenrods competed for attention, but none shone more vividly than the Cardinal Lobelia, “one of the most glaringly beautiful wildflowers to be found.”

Among these beauties were also the soft white blooms of Eupatorium ageratoides—the whitesnake root—which thrived in shaded woods, blooming late into the fall. The mistflower, Eupatorium coelestinum, sported delicate blue blossoms, gracing low grounds and persevering until the first chill of frost.

Bright yellow Bidens bipinnata, or Spanish Needle, was described as carpeting low meadows and lining roadsides, a burst of sunshine for wandering eyes. Yet not all the botanical delights were appreciated for their elegance. The Desmodiums, or beggar’s ticks, earned a wry nod for their tenacious seeds, which “stick to you 'closer than a brother'” —a sentiment those who have wandered country paths in autumn will recognize with a knowing smile.

Here is the full article:

The wild flower exhibition held by the Engelmann Botanical Club in the Public Library Building gave the observer a striking idea of the beauty and profusion of the uncultivated flowers which can be found In the vicinity of St. Louis in the autumn. 

To many it was a revelation. 

Miss Ellen C. Clark, President of the Englemann Botanical Club, wrote,
The table that attracted the children the most was that on which the fruits and seeds were collected. The pods of the milkweed and dogbane families, with their hairy seed, those of the trumpet creeper and others, showed them how seed could fly; the berries of the dogwood, buckthorn, the coralberry, the pokeberry had each its special attraction.

The Engelmann Botanical Club has had only a short existence. [It started] a little more than two years ago… When a name for the club was considered it seemed most fitting to honor Dr. Engelmann, the eminent St. Louis physician who made time in the midst of a large practice to do botanical work that distinguished him among the botanists of the world. 

J. H. Kellogg wrote,
Besides the large exhibits of gentians, lobelias, asters, and goldenrods, there were others equally as attractive, although the Cardinal Lobelia is one of the most glaringly beautiful wildflowers to be found. 

Eupatorium ageratoides, or whitesnake root, growing in rich shady woods with white flowers, is a very pretty plant, blooming until late in the fall. 

Eupatorium coelestinum. or mistflower, with its delicate blue flowers, is very beautiful. It Is found growing in low grounds and blooming until cold weather. 

Bidens Bipinnata or Spanish Needle is one of our common fall flowers, sometimes covering low meadows with its bright yellow flowers and along roadside almost everywhere. 

Another group of plants that will attract your attention if you take a walk through the woods in almost any direction during the fall of the year is the Desmodiums or beggar’s ticks [or beggar lice]. Not on account of their showy flowers, but of their seeds, which will stick to you "closer than a brother," as anyone can testify who has taken a walk in the country at this season of the year.