# Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 5/Botanists of the Oregon Country

THE QUARTERLY
OF THE
OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
BOTANISTS OF THE OREGON COUNTRY.
By Ansel F. Hemenway.
This paper will attempt to consider those who have made the more important botanical collections and researches in "The Oregon Country," that is in that part of Northwest America which was once called the Oregon Territory. It included what is now Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming.
The first botanical collectors to visit "The Oregon Country" came with exploring expeditions. They made collections along the Coast, but were not careful in keeping record of the localities from which they obtained their specimens; MI that when the collect ions were taken to Europe, specimens from Oregon, California. South America, and various islands of the Pacific were mixed. The species names of some of our indigenous plants are all there is to remind us that these collectors ever existed.
​Archibald Menzies, a Scottish botanist, ﬁrst came to the Northwest Coast in a trading vessel in 1786, or, as some authorities say. in 1779. In Vancouver's expedition he was surgeon on the ship Discovery. In the account of Vancouver's voyage about all the mention of Menzies is the statement that they named an island in the Columbia after him. His collections were sent to England.
Josef M. Mocino. a Spanish botanist, coasted from California to Nootka in 1792. There were several Russian botanists that made collections in Oregon and California, between 1816 and 1824. Among them may be mentioned G. H. von Langsdorff, A. von Chamisso, Johann F. Eschscholtz, and Baron von Wrangel.
The most important of the early botanists of the Paciﬁc Coast was David Douglas. As the Quarterly begins, in the pages following this sketch. a reprint of the original memoir of the life of Douglas and of his letters and journal describing his explorations in the Oregon country, the reader is referred to that account. With Douglas came Dr. John Scouler, a. physician and scientist. They sailed around South America. then northward, entering the Columbia April 7, 1825. They tarried at its mouth and began their collections by ﬁnding the pretty salal blossoms. Gaultheria Shallon. The rest. of the month of April was spent at Fort George. As it rained nearly every day, they did not have a pleasant time for botanical excursions. They next went to Fort Vancouver, where for ten days they made extensive collections. Returning to Fort George, they made botanical explorations till the last of May.
Dr. Scouler makes mention of the abundance of Camas, Camassia. Esculentia. the bulbs of which formed so important part of the Indians' food. They found some rare ﬂowers, such as Pyrolas and the Orchids. Calypso borealis and Corallorhiza inatta. Then leaving Douglas, Dr. Scouler crossed the bar of the Columbia for the second time and sailed on a trading vessel along the coast of \Vashington up to Nootka. On July 7 the vessel started back and arrived at the Columbia ​September 7. 1825. During this trip Scouler visited almost every accessible bay or inlet which he passed. Along the coast of Washington the lichens and mosses were so plentiful that he could ﬁnd forty different species in an hour. He also mentions the abundance of Saxifrage and mimulus on the rocky banks of the bays and rivers. Many of the Indian tribes were so treacherous that they did not dare to leave the vessel to make collections of furs or plants.
Returning to Fort George and ﬁnding it deserted. Dr. Scouler proceeded to Fort Vancouver, where he found Douglas. For ﬁfteen days Douglas and Scouler made excursions and examined specimens; but as the weather had been very dry, they found but few ﬂowers. Dr. Scouler left Douglas September 20, and on October 25 sailed out of the Columbia for the Sandwich Islands.
One of the ﬁrst generalizations that Dr. Scouler makes about "The Oregon Country" in his "Journal of a Voyage to Northwest America—Columbia. Vancouver, and Nootka Sound." is that the. damp climate favors an abundant growth of mosses and lichens. In this journal (still in manuscript, but soon to be published in the Quarterly) he does not attempt to give many names of the ﬂowers he found nor the species of those he does mention. As he was a physician. he seemed to be much more careful in his zoological notes. He gives a minute description of the external and .internal organs of almost every new species of ﬁsh or bird he found, while he describes in detail but few ﬂowers.
Thomas Nuttall, the botanist, who visited the Columbia valley in 1834-5, did, perhaps, the most work for the botanical knowledge of the ﬂora of the United States as a whole. He was born in England in 1786. A love of natural science, he says, and perhaps also a hope to improve his position in the world brought him to the United States when only 22 years old. In spite of poverty and consequent necessity of working for a living, he had at this age a good knowledge of the language and history of his country and was somewhat familiar with natural history and even with Latin and Greek. ​He had been interested in mineralogy, but his ﬁrst visit to Professor l'arton, a Philadelphia botanist, "decided his vocation to the worship of ﬂora. to whose shrine he remained devoted to the last days of his life."
In 1810-11 Nuttall, with Mr. John Bradbury, went up the Missouri River to the Mandan village. They accompanied to that point Wilson P. Hunt's overland expedition, a part of the Astor enterprise. Later he explored the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. As a result of these investigations he published in 1818 "The Genera of the North American Plants." "Upon this work principally stands the reputation of Mr. Nuttall as a profound botanist." Then he explored the Arkansas River and its tributaries, traveling more than 5,000 miles in a period of'sixteen months, mainly over a country never before visited by scientiﬁc explorers. In 183:2 he wrote a "Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and Canada."
In March, 1834, Nuttall started for the Northwest Coast with the Wyeth Expedition, arriving at the Snake River in the following August. Then they went to The Dalles and down the Columbia to Fort. Vancouver. Nuttall made several short trips into the surrounding country collecting botanical specimens. exploring the Willamette as far as the falls. On December 13, he. started for the Sandwich Islands to winter. In the following spring he returned and made further excursions, going up the Columbia as far as The Dalles. In October he went again to winter in the Sandwich Islands. The next summer he spent in California, after which he returned to his home in Massachusetts. The results of this journey were published in 1840 in the "Transactions of the American Philosophical Society." Thomas Nuttall spent the last seventeen years of his life in England, where he died September 10, 1859.
Mr. Nuttall did not enjoy himself in society; he had such a retiring disposition. "To me," said Mr. Nuttall, "hard​hardships and privations are cheaply purchased if I may but roam over the wild domain of Primeval Nature and behold.
   'Another Flora there of bolder hues.
   And richer sweets beyond our garden's pride.'"
Elias Durand in his "Memoir of Thomas Nuttall." says: "No other explorer of the botany of North America has personally made more discOVeries, no writer except perhaps Asa Tray has described more new genera and species."
Mr. W. D. Brackenridge and Dr. Charles Pickering, botanists with the United States Exploring Expedition. under Lieutenant Wilkes. went from the Columbia by land to California in 1841. An account of their collections was given by Dr. Torrey in the Botany of the Expedition, to which the writer has not had access.
Dr. John S. Newberry and Dr. J. T. Cooper made some botanical explorations in Oregon and Washington in connection with the Paciﬁc Railroad Surveys. In the report of this Survey, Vol. VI, part III, Dr. Newberry gives some general observations on the plant life in Northern California and Oregon and also a description of the forest trees in the same region. Most of the botanical names of the trees he mentions have been changed since his time. From this report we may conclude that he made collections in the Cascade and Coast Mountains, the Klamath, Des Chutes, and Willamette Valleys, as well as in California and Nevada. In Vol. XII.. Part 11., there is a botanical report by Dr. J. T. Cooper, who visited many parts of Washington and Oregon. He does not mention as many trees as Dr. Newherry, but he giVes a description of most of our common shrubs. He also made some observations on the life in fresh and salt water.
M. Duﬂot de Mofras, who was sent by the French government on an expedition to the west coast of North America in 1840-2. seems to have interested himself in making a botanical collection. In an appendix to his "Explorations du Territoire de Oregon des Californies" there is a catalogue of the principal plants of the Northwest Coast. It enumer​enumerates about 290 species, but has not the form and accuracy to be of much scientiﬁc value.
Captain John C. Fremont had predilections for botany, but his passage through the Oregon country (on the trail of the pioneers to Fort Vancouver and thence along the eastern slope of the Cascade range to California) was accomplished during autumn and winter months, unfavorable for attention to plant life and the work of collecting. His collections are described by Dr. Torrey in “Plantae Fremontianae” in the “Smithsonian Contributions” for 1850.
Fremont mentions meeting a German botanist named Luders on the Columbia, at a little bay below the Cascades, which was called after him Luders’ Bay.
Professor A. Wood made important collections on his journey from San Diego through Oregon in 1866.
In recent times there have been so many who have more or less extensively investigated the ﬂora of this part of the United States that only a few of the more important of them will be mentioned. The following have made important collections or investigations in Oregon: Messrs. Joseph and Thomas Howell, of Milwaukie; Mr. R. D. Nevins. of. The Dalles; Professor Henderson, now in the University of Idaho; Professor J. G. Lemmon, of California. and Professor B. J. Hawthorne, of the University of Oregon. Mr. W. Suksdorf. of \Vhite Salmon; Mr. W. C. Cusick, of Union. and Professor C. V. Piper, of Pullman, have made important collections in Washington. The work of Dr. Henry N. Bolander and Mr. E. Hall also covered a wide range of collections on this coast.
The one who has done the most substantial work for the botany of the northwestern part of the United States. Mr. Thomas Howell, is worthy of a more detailed discussion. He came to Oregon in 1850. He wished to know the plants and trees that grew about him, so he began collecting as early as 1876. But he soon found that there was no work that described completely the ﬂora in this section of the United States. He undertook. to overcome this difﬁculty, the enor​mous task of familiarizing himself with the plants of Oregon. Washington, and Idaho and then collecting and writing descriptions of them. Mr. Howell thus began the writing of his "Flora of Northwest America" in 1882. When he had prepared the ﬁrst fascicle of this work he found another obstacle to surmount, for there was no typesetter in Oregon able to "set. up" the technical matter. But the indefatigable collector was not to be thus hindered from bringing together the results of years of ﬁeld experience, so he learned to set type. and during the past eight years has "set up" form after form until the 816 pages have been printed. It is the only botanical work that covers this part of the United States.
Mr. Howell's descriptions are usually general enough to include possible variation. While he has divided several families. he has not favored the elevation of every variety to the rank of a species. He has followed the arrangement of Bentham and Hooker. His work describes 3,150 species; 2.370 of which are herbaceous ﬂowering plants. The rest are trees, shrubs, sedges, and rushes. As Mr. Howell wished to see for himself every ﬂower he described, he necessarily bad to endure many hardships in making journeys to out-of-the-way places. He has done all this work purely because he loved the science, without hope of any remuneration at the end worth considering and with practically no aid but the encouragement of his friends. During the printing of the "Flora" his friend, Mr. Martin (lorman. gave him aid of a more practical value by reading and revising the proofs. Mr. Howell has donated his large collection of plants to the herbarium of the University of Oregon, where it is now being deposited. The people of this State might well honor Mr. Howell for his unselﬁsh efforts to advance the scientiﬁc knowledge of our Northwest Coast.
The great diversity of soil and variation of climate and altitude in this Oregon Country has offered a very rich ﬁeld for botanical investigations. Our plants have remained so long undescribed that they seem to a botanical student to ​take delight in showing all sorts of variation from their Eastern cousins. Our lower forms of plant life, which are very numerous, have not yet been thoroughly investigated or described, but it is to be hoped that Mr. Howell will receive enough encouragement to induce him to write a second volume which will describe these lower forms.
Bibliography of sources of material not mentioned in the paper:
David Douglas: Journal of Mr. Douglas's travels in Hooker's Companion to the Botanical Magazine, Vol. II., London.
David Douglas, Botanist, Leisure Hour, Vol. 32, page 206. London.
Discoverer of the Giant Pines, Leisure Hour, Vol. XL, page 454. London.
An Early Hero of the Paciﬁc, Overland Mo., August, 1871.
Thomas Nuttall: Popular Science Mo., Vol. 46, page 689, 1895.
U. S. Exploring Expedition Reports:
Vol. XV. Botany, Phanerogamia, by Asa Gray, published 1854-56.
Vol. XVI. Botany, Cryptogamia, by W. D. Brackenridge, published 1854-56.
Vol. XVII. Botany, Phaenogamia, by John Torrey, published in 1874.