Wow.
Having driven across Kansas - twice - I can just imagine how mind-numbingly and relentlessly flat they found the tallgrass prairie. And after the arduous trek up and over the imposing Rockies, finding themselves in the less inhospitable environs of the high desert of the Pacific Northwest, only to find the Cascades looming on the horizon ... they must have wanted to knot a rope around their necks and just be done with it.
But they didn't. They were brave. They were intrepid. They were boldly going ... well, I wrote all that last week. They were having a hell of an adventure, and from a wildflower point of view, they were unearthing a treasure chest full of pirate's booty, one botanical doubloon after another, and in a variety of habitats. Just think of it, many species were being seen for the very first time by those who would later attach Latin names to them. (It kind of brings to mind ... well ... me, and the wildflowery consequences of my midlife crisis. My wife and I have been in among all these habitats as well over the past 5 years, and I can imagine how excited Lewis must have been at each new wildflower.)
Among the first specimens collected by Meriwether Lewis were Indigo Bush (Amorpha fruticosa) and Ground Plum (Astragalus crassicarpus), both legumes (Fabaceae), Eastern Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense), a member of the Birthwort Family (Aristolochiaceae), and Golden Seal (Hydratis canadenis), a Buttercup Family (Ranunculaceae) member.
The Indigo Bush was gathered in Missouri on May 23, 1804: "...near the mouth of the Osage Creek." Lewis went on to write that it "...resembles much in growth the bladder senna, it rises to hight of eight or ten feet and is an inhabitant of a moist rich soil. - usually the verge of the river. - it is a handsome Shrub."
The Ground Plum specimen "Was taken the 3rd of June above the mouth of the Osage river; it is the groath of high dry open praries ... the Indians frequently use the fruit of this plant to alay their thirst..." The fruit "in their succulent and unripe stage as at this season of the year are about the size if a pullet's egg ... the pulp is crisp & clear and tasts very much like the hull of a gardin pee. - when ripe the fruit is of a fine red colour and sweet flavor."
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