When Lewis and Clark were in Montana in 1805 & 1806, they collected many specimens of vascular plants. Of those, 31 still exist and are housed in the Lewis & Clark Herbarium in Philadelphia .
Click here for more information about the 31 Lewis & Clark plants
- Atriplex gardneri (Gardner’s saltbush)
- Balsamorhiza sagittata (arrow-leaf balsamroot)
- Dalea purpurea (purple prairie clover)
- Dasiphora fruticosa (shrubby cinquefoil)
- Elaeagnus commutata (American silverberry)
- Euphorbia marginata (snow-on-the-mountain)
- Gaillardia aristata (blanketflower)
- Hesporostipa comata (needle-and-thread grass)
- Hordeum jubatum (foxtail barley)
- Iris missouriensis (Rocky Mountain iris)
- Juniperus communis var. depressa (common juniper)
- Lewisia rediviva (bitterroot)
- Linum lewisii (Lewis’s Blue Flax)
- Lonicera involucrata (twin-berry honeysuckle)
- Lupinus argenteus (silvery lupine)
- Lupinus sericeus (silky lupine)
- Mimulus guttatus (common monkey flower)
- Oenothera cespitosa (gumbo evening primrose)
- Orthocarous tenuifolius (thin-leaved owl clover)
- Oxytropis besseyi (Bessey’s locoweed)
- Pedicularis cystopteridifolia (fern-leaf lousewort)
- Pedicularis groenlandica (elephanthead pedicularis)
- Philadelphus lewisii (Lewis’s mock orange; syringa)
- Populus balsamifera ssp. trichocarpa (black cottonwood)
- Purshia tridentata (bitterbrush)
- Ribes aureum (golden currant)
- Sarcobatus vermiculatus (greasewood)
- Sedum stenopetalum (worm-leaved stonecrop)
- Sphaeralcea coccinea (scarlet globemallow)
- Trifolium microcephalum (small-headed clover)
- Zigadenus elegans (mountain death camas)
Here’s some info about Lewis and Clark plants collected elsewhere that occur in Montana; and a list of sources for further study.
The Magic of Montana Native Plants: A Gardener’s Guide to Growing over 150 Species from Seed by Sheila Morrison, 2003. Reprinted by the Montana Native Plant Society, Clark Fork Chapter. For information and to buy the book, click on the title.
Guidelines for Collecting Native Plants As the market for naturally sourced botanicals continues to expand, so does the interest in wildcrafting. With some effort, it’s possible for thoughtful collectors to actually improve the situation for often fragile populations of native plants.
Plant Collection Guidelines for Teachers These guidelines are directed towards educators, but are useful for anyone new to the ethics and methods of plant collecting.
Montana’s Pioneer Botanists, an out-of-print volume published by the Montana Native Plant Society, with 31 stories written by 17 authors.