early American botany Archives

The Newfoundland and the New Frontier: Seaman’s Tale

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 2, 1803 On this verdant day, the United States, a fledgling nation, expanded its borders significantly when Napoleon ceded the vast Louisiana Territory to the Americans for a mere pittance. A botanist’s…

William Bartram’s May Diary: A Window into Early American Nature

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. May 13, 1823 On this day, William Bartram, American botanist, ornithologist, natural historian, and explorer, penned an entry in his diary that transports us to a spring day nearly two centuries ago. Can…

Benjamin Smith Barton: America’s First Professional Naturalist and Botanical Educator

Benjamin Smith Barton (1766-1815), a prominent American botanist, naturalist, and physician. He is recognized for authoring the first American textbook on botany, "Elements of Botany".

Golden Butterfly February 10, 1766 Today is the birthday of the American botanist, naturalist, and physician Benjamin Smith Barton. Benjamin worked as a Professor of Natural History and Botany at the University of Pennsylvania, where he authored the very first textbook on American Botany. In 1803, at Thomas Jefferson’s request, Benjamin was tutoring Meriwether Lewis…

David Hosack: The Physician-Botanist Who Created America’s First Public Garden

Dr. David Hosack (1769-1835), a prominent American physician, botanist, and educator.

American Eden December 22, 1835 Today is the anniversary of the death of the doctor and botanist David Hosack. He was 65. In 2018, David Hosack’s story was brilliantly told in the biography by Victoria Johnson called American Eden. David was a New Yorker and he was a leading doctor in America during the early days…

Frederick Lueders and the Lost Botanical Treasure of the Columbia River

The Sauk County Botanist November 13, 1843 Today is the anniversary of the day that the German botanist, Frederick Lueders, lost all of his botanical work. Frederick was botanizing along the Columbia River in Oregon. For the past three years, Frederick had collected specimens across North America. He had just encountered the explorer John…

Meriwether Lewis and the Discovery of the Snowberry

Shoshone to Snowberries Today Meriwether Lewis discovered the Snowberry or Symphoricarpos albus. I love the story of how Lewis came across the Snowberry. Meriwether was really looking for the Shoshone Indians, but he found the Snowberry instead. Meriwether wrote in his journal that he discovered something like a small honeysuckle, except that it was bearing…

Humphrey Marshall: America’s Father of Dendrology and Botanical Explorer

The Father of American Dendrology Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist Humphrey Marshall who died on this day in 1801. The Marshalls were cousins to the Bartrams – their mothers were sisters. John Bartram was known as the “Father of American Botany, and he ignited Humphrey’s love of native plants. John…

Frederick Pursch and David Hosack: A Partnership in Early American Botanical Exploration

David Hosack, painted by Thomas Sully. Hosack was a prominent American physician, botanist, and educator, perhaps best known for his role as the attending physician to Alexander Hamilton after his fatal duel with Aaron Burr in 1804.

Botanist Across America On this day in 1807, the botanist Frederick Pursch visited David Hosack. Hosack was happy to have Pursch collect specimens from all around the United States for him. He wrote, “I shall have a very industrious and skillful botanist [begin] to collect from different parts of the Union.” This post was featured…

Lewis and Clark: The Expedition That Brought Back America’s Wild Plants

A Route to the Pacific Today, in 1806, Lewis and Clark returned to St. Louis after spending over two years exploring the headwaters of the Missouri River in an effort to find a route to the Pacific. They returned with their journals and with plant specimens. Here’s just a handful of the plants they discovered…

John M. Darby: The Overlooked Botanist of the South

Tension in the Botany World Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist and chemist John N. Darby, who died on this day in 1877. In 1841, Darby wrote one of the earliest floras, and he focused on the southeastern United States. His flora was practical and regional, so it’s no surprise that…