- Published in 2017 by the Montana Native Plant Society
- Contains 31 stories written by 17 different authors, with more than 200 photos and botanical illustrations by 32 different artists
- Backstories and sidelights gathered while assembling the book are related in Stolon Stories
THIS BOOK IS OUT OF PRINT.
Montana’s Pioneer Botanists is no longer available on Amazon.com. Look for it in your local library. A very few hardback copies are available, but for sale only to libraries and institutions. Contact Rachel Potter at jrepotter@gmail.com.
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Click here for a Montana Historical Society video about this book.
Back-cover blurb
For the back cover, Peter Lesica wrote:
Montana’s multitude of rugged mountains and wide open spaces means that botanical discoveries which started with the Lewis and Clark Expedition continue to this day. Montana’s Pioneer Botanists brings together more than thirty biographies of these diverse people and traces the growth of botanical knowledge in this wild and beautiful state.”
Background
Nearly thirty years ago, Arthur Kruckeberg (1920-2016) envisioned a book of biographies of historical Northwest plant hunters, with essays written by botanists of today. He asked Peter Lesica to recruit authors for stories of Montana’s botanists, and a dozen or so essays were crafted. As the years went by and there was no sign of a Pacific Northwest book, Lesica decided to publish the Montana essays and asked Rachel Potter to help. As editors, they recruited a few more authors and revised some essays to highlight Montana.
When the editors decided to add plant and landscape photos and art to the portraits of dead white guys, the project flourished, with many more people donating photos, artwork and expertise. Most are members of the Montana Native Plant Society. The editors are immensely grateful to all contributors.