Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
PH-LC 103 |
Object Name |
Specimen |
Title |
Gutierrezia sarothrae |
Other Name |
Snakeweed |
Collector |
Meriwether Lewis & William Clark |
Date |
1804 |
Description |
Meehan (1898: 24) lists this sheet, Lewis 59, as Gutierrezia euthamiae (Nutt.) Torr. & A. Gray (Fl. N. Amer. 2: 193. 1842). This name is based on Brachyris euthamiae Nutt. (Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 2: 163. 1818), an illegitimate superfluous name for Solidago sarothrae. Being superfluous, the type of Nuttall's name is therefore the type of S. sarothrae and not a Nuttall specimen as suggested by Lane (1985: 24). The Lewis specimen was collected on the lower part of the Big Bend of the Missouri River, Buffalo Co., South Dakota, on 19 Sep 1804 (Moulton, 1987a: 469). (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. Merriwether Lewis collected this specimen of Gutierrezia sarothrae, known alternatively as Broom Snakewood, at the Big Bend of the Missouri River in South Dakota on September 19th, 1804, near the start of their long journey. This plant is native to western North America, and found commonly in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains regions of the United States. In present day South Dakota, Lakota people used a decoction of the plant to treat coughs, colds, and vertigo. |
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 |