Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
PH-LC 1 |
Object Name |
Specimen |
Title |
Acer circinatum |
Other Name |
Vine Maple |
Collector |
Meriwether Lewis & William Clark |
Date |
1805 |
Description |
Collected along the Columbia River probably on 30 or 31 Oct 1805 as Pursh gives the location as "On the great rapids of the Columbia river" and the herbarium label has "Octbr: 1805." This implies that the specimen was gathered when the expedition was along the Columbia in either Skamania Co., Washington, or Hood River Co., Oregon. Clark observed several trees on 30 Oct (Moulton, 1988: 358), but no maple is mentioned. On 12 Apr 1806, Lewis refers to "a species of maple" which Moulton (1991: 112, 114) takes to be Acer circinatum. Lewis illustrates and describes the species on 10 Feb 1806 while the expedition wintered-over at Fort Clatsop, Clatsop Co., Oregon (Moulton, 1990: 294-295). (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. This specimen of the vine maple, or Acer circinatum, was collected in October 1805 by Lewis and Clark as they were travelling along the Columbia River on the border between present-day Oregon and Washington. This species of maple trees is native to the Pacific Northwest and can be found in the understory of the region's vast forest canopies. Indigenous communities in this area have long used the vine maple's wood and fiber to craft baskets, cooking utensils, and fishing equipment. |
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 |