Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
PH-LC 117 |
Object Name |
Specimen |
Title |
Juniperus scopulorum |
Other Name |
Rocky Mountain Juniper |
Collector |
Meriwether Lewis & William Clark |
Date |
1804 |
Description |
Pursh (1813: 647) calls this Juniperus excelsa Willd. (Sp. Pl. 4: 852. 1805) and Meehan (1898: 46) reports it as J. occidentalis Hook. (Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 166. 1838). Lewis 58 was collected along the bluffs above the Missouri River on 2 Oct 1804 near the Sully-Potter Co. line in South Dakota where Lewis gathered several other prairie shrubs and low trees (Moulton, 1987a: 470). The specimens must have been collected with some caution that day as there were various encounters with Indians and the party spent the night on an island (1987a: 138-140). Lewis probably did not venture too far from the rest of the men as they worked their boats up stream. The collection locality is just east of the known present-day distribution of the species (Little, 1971: map 30). The trees must have been impressive as Lewis says "some of them [are] 6 feet in the girth." There is some confusion with regard to the label data and the location published by Pursh. In print he has "On the banks of the waters of the Rocky-mountains." We are not certain what Pursh means as there is nothing to suggest the tree came from the mountains. However, Lewis certainly saw the species in the Rocky Mountains and perhaps told Pursh of its distribution. It is also possible that Pursh is referring to the provenance of the waters, which originate in the Rocky Mountains. (The Lewis & Clark Herbarium Digital Imagery Study Set, ANSP, 2002) On deposit at the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia |
Label |
Starting in 1803, Merriwether Lewis (APS 1803) and William Clark embarked on a 3 year expedition along the Missouri and Columbia rivers to the Pacific Coast. They collected hundreds of plant specimens to carry back to the East Coast. They pressed these plants, attached them to sheets of paper and wrapped them in oilskin to survive the long journey intact. Towards the beginning of their journey westward, Lewis collected this specimen of Juniperus scopulorum, commonly called the Rocky Mountain Juniper, on October 2nd 1804, in South Dakota. This plant is commonly found in the Great Plains region of the United States and further north in Canada. In this region of the Great Plains, the uses of this plant were primarily medicinal. The cones, boughs, leaves, and branches were consumed to treat issues ranging from colds and respiratory illnesses to digestive and gastrointestinal issues. |
Credit line |
American Philosophical Society. Gift of Thomas Jefferson, 1805 - 1806. |
Search Terms |
19th century botany Clark herbarium Lewis nineteenth century plant specimen |
Collection |
The Lewis & Clark Herbarium |