First Footprints in Flora: How Thomas Nuttall Discovered Michigan’s Botanical Treasures
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
April 12, 1810
On this day, young Thomas Nuttall, a mere twenty-four years of age and fresh from England's shores, departed Philadelphia by coach on what would become a most remarkable botanical adventure. One cannot help but wonder what ambitions stirred in his heart as the wheels began to turn on this fateful day.
Professor Benjamin Smith Barton of the University of Philadelphia had tasked our intrepid botanist with a mission most grand - to spend the next two years studying the flora of the Northwest. And for what compensation, dear reader? A pittance! Eight dollars per month plus expenses. Such is the price of scientific passion in these revolutionary times.
With meticulous dedication, Nuttall set about collecting and documenting the botanical treasures of our expanding nation. By July 29, the young man abandoned conventional transport and embraced adventure, launching himself into a birch bark canoe alongside Aaron Greely, the deputy surveyor of the Michigan territory. Together they paddled northward, reaching the shores of Mackinac Island a fortnight later on August 12.
What thrilling discoveries awaited him! For several days, Nuttall explored the island with unmistakable fervor. It must be noted that he was the first genuine botanist to examine Michigan's flora, and certainly the pioneering scientific eye to study Mackinac Island's botanical offerings. His keen observations yielded documentation of approximately sixty species - nearly a third of which were previously unknown to science!
Among his Mackinac discoveries was the exquisite dwarf lake iris (Iris lucustris), a delicate beauty that would eventually be honored as the state wildflower of Michigan. One imagines Nuttall bending to examine this diminutive bloom, his notebooks filling with observations while unaware of the flora's future significance.
Such expeditions remind us that our gardens and landscapes were not always so thoroughly catalogued. Each plant familiar to us today was once an exciting discovery, carefully documented by passionate individuals who braved considerable discomfort for the advancement of botanical knowledge.
Indeed, these early naturalists laid the foundation for our modern understanding of North American plant life, working with rudimentary tools but extraordinary dedication. Nuttall's journey reminds us that gardening and botanical knowledge are built upon centuries of careful observation, systematic documentation, and an unwavering passion for the natural world.
One cannot help but wonder what Nuttall would think of our modern gardens, with their cultivars and hybrids derived from the very species he first documented in their wild state. Perhaps he would recognize the same wonder that drives today's gardeners - that persistent curiosity about what grows from the soil when properly tended.
