Scientific Document
Lewis’s Descriptions of New Plant Species
Lewis's botanical descriptions and pressed plant specimens documented over 170 previously unknown plant species during the expedition, representing one of the largest botanical collections from a single expedition in American history. Many specimens were later classified by botanist Frederick Pursh.
Lewis received botanical training from Benjamin Smith Barton at the University of Pennsylvania before the expedition. Throughout the journey, he collected and described specimens including Lewis’s monkey-flower (Mimulus lewisii), bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva — Montana’s state flower), Clarkia (named for William Clark), and dozens of other species. His pressed specimens were sent to the American Philosophical Society and the Academy of Natural Sciences. Botanist Frederick Pursh published scientific descriptions of many Lewis specimens in his “Flora Americae Septentrionalis” (1814).
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