Posts Tagged ‘Flora of North America’
From Harvard to Herbarium: The Blooming Legacy of Asa Gray
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. November 18, 1810 On this day, the botanical world welcomed a true titan of the field – Asa Gray, whose birth heralded a new era in the study of plant life and the…
Read MoreEdward Tuckerman: The Lichen Botanist Who Saved Lewis and Clark’s Plants
Tuckerman Ravine December 7, 1817 Today is the birthday of the American botanist and professor Edward Tuckerman. A specialist of lichens and other Alpine plants, Edward helped found the Natural History Society of Boston. As a professor at Amherst College, Edward spent his spare time botanizing in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Today Tuckerman…
Read MoreAsa Gray: Pioneering American Botanist, Darwin’s Confidant, and Defender of Evolution
For Team Darwin November 18, 1810 Today is the birthday of one of the leading American botanists of his time and a member of Team Darwin, Asa Gray, who was born on this day in 1810. In 1857, Asa Gray received a confidential letter from Charles Darwin. In the letter, Darwin confided: “I will enclose…
Read MoreAsa Gray: Pioneer American Botanist, Harvard Professor, and Early Supporter of Darwin
Flora of North America Today is the birthday of one of the leading American botanists of his time and a member of Team Darwin, Asa Gray, who was born on this day in 1810. In 1857, Asa Gray received a confidential letter from Charles Darwin. In the letter, Darwin confided: “I will enclose the briefest…
Read MoreWilhelm Suksdorf’s Unlikely Journey: From Farm Fields to Asa Gray’s Harvard
The Seven Suksdorfs On this day in 1886, the botanist Wilhelm Nikolaus Suksdorf began his journey by train to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to go work for Harvard’s top botanist, Asa Gray. Now I know what you’re thinking. This must be another story about a budding young botanist who makes his way to Harvard and then writes…
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