Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
PH-LC 106 |
Object Name |
Specimen |
Title |
Hordeum jubatum |
Other Name |
Foxtail Barley |
Collector |
Meriwether Lewis & William Clark |
Date |
1806 |
Description |
This common species was gathered initially on 13 Mar 1806 at Fort Clatsop, Clatsop Co., Oregon (PH-LC 106). There is no obvious reference to the plant in the journals (Moulton, 1990: 409-414). A second specimen (PH-LC 107) was collected on 12 Jul 1806 on White Bear Island in the Missouri River, Cascade Co., Montana (Moulton, 1993: 106-108). On this day Lewis makes no mention of going to the island, but on 14 Jul he sent others there to hunt (1993: 108). Perhaps some of his men obtained the grass. Pursh (1813: 89) reports the latter item in his Flora as "On the Islands of the missouri river." On 12-13 Jul 1805 (Moulton, 1987b: 376-379), Lewis and Clark cached the plant specimens gathered that year between Fort Mandan and "White Bear Island Camp" in Cascade Co., Montana. Even as the baggage was being stored Lewis was preserving his botanical treasures. Upon opening the cache in 1806, Clark discovered that all the specimens but one (No. 165, Ribes aureum) were lost to water damage. The loss must have been significant given the numerous reports of curious plants in the explorers' journals (Moulton, 1987b). (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. On the 13th of March 1806 at Fort Clatsop in Oregon, Lewis and Clark's team collected this specimen of Hordeum jubatum, commonly known as Foxtail Barley. Foxtail Barley is native to the length of northern North American and parts of adjacent Siberia. Historically, the saplings and wood of the plant wre used for crafting cooking tools, baskets, containers, and hunting and fishing equipment and the sap of the plant was occasionally eaten. |
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 |