Edward Tuckerman: The Lichen Botanist Who Saved Lewis and Clark’s Plants

Edward Tuckerman

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…

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Seeds of Discovery: Frederick Pursh and the Flora Americana Legacy

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Flora Americana The English botanist Aylmer Lambert wrote to his peer, and the President of the Linnean Society, Sir James Edward Smith. Lambert was giving Smith a heads up that Frederick Pursh’s Flora Americana was published. Five years earlier, Frederick had been working for Benjamin Smith Barton in America. Barton was supposed to process the…

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January 22, 2020 The Wardian Case, Winter Garden Design Tips, Francis Bacon, Heinrich Muhlenberg, Caspar Wistar, The 1985 Cold Snap, Lessons From Winter In Poetry And Prose, By Pen & By Spade By David Wheeler, Esschert Garden Tool Belt, and Ellsworth Jerome Hill

The Daily Gardener Podcast Album Cover with a pot of rosemary - the herb for remembrance - beckoning gardeners to remember to listen to the show. Updated September 2025.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee  Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community Curated News The Wardian case: Botany game-changer | Kew It’s incredible to think that the Wardian case was invented by British doctor and amateur naturalist Nathaniel Bagshaw…

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Caspar Wistar: The Physician Who Inspired the Beloved Wisteria

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The Wistar Institute On this day in 1777, Caspar Wistar treated the wounded during the battle of Germantown and decided he would pursue medical training. Wistar (“Wiss-Star”)is the names of The Wistar Institute, the nation’s first independent biomedical research center. Today, they focus on cancer, infectious disease & vaccine research to benefit human health. The…

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Bernard McMahon: Jefferson’s Garden Mentor and Curator of Lewis & Clark’s Plants

Bernard McMahon

The Philadelphia Nurseryman Today is the birthday of the Irish-born botanical steward of the plants collected by Lewis and Clark; the Philadelphia nurseryman, Bernard McMahon, who was born on this day in 1816. McMahon’s lasting legacy was his American Gardener’s Calendar. Packed with monthly directions and information about all things gardening, McMahon’s Calendar was the most popular…

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Caspar Wistar: The Man Behind Wisteria and Philadelphia’s Great Salon

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The Younger Wistar Today is the birthday of Caspar Wistar, the Younger who was born on this day in 1761. His grandfather was also Caspar Wistar, so the Younger distinction helps people tell them apart. Wistar was a Professor of Anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania. The botanist Thomas Nuttall named the genus Wisteria in…

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Botanical Adventure Canoes and Cataloguing: Thomas Nuttall’s Mackinac

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This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. July 29, 1810 On this day, dear garden friends, young Thomas Nuttall, a mere stripling of 24 years, embarked upon what one might call a most fortuitous botanical adventure. With the audacity that…

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