John Muir's Specimens in Texas
Follow the 6,000-mile journey of John Muir’s plant specimens, from California’s Sierra Nevadas to Texas—rooted in history, yet always on the move across the U.S.
BRIT Collections
Botanical Research Institute of Texas | Fort Worth Botanic Garden
Plant specimen (1875) by John MuirBRIT Collections
This fern specimen was discovered during a curation and digitization project. You might recognize the name of the person who collected it.
This specimen was collected by well-known naturalist and writer John Muir! Muir explored the Yosemite Valley of California, and campaigned for its protection as a natural ecosystem. For his efforts, he is often called the father of the US National Park System.
Plant specimen (1875) by John MuirBRIT Collections
Muir travelled extensively during his lifetime, and these specimens have been on a journey of their own as well. We can trace the journey of these specimens by the stamps on the sheets.
These ferns, along with several other plants, were collected on an expedition to the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, and sent to John Redfield, a colleague of Muir's.
The specimen was collected during John Muir's 1875 expedition to the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California.
Plant specimen (1875) by John MuirBRIT Collections
In 1875, Redfield wrote to Muir asking for specimens, and Muir responded by sending a shipment of plants to Redfield's herbarium in Philadelphia.
Plant specimen (1875) by John MuirBRIT Collections
The specimens stayed at Redfield's herbarium for about 22 years.
In 1897, Redfield's herbarium was purchased by the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the specimens were shipped from Philadelphia to St. Louis.
Plant specimen (1875) by John MuirBRIT Collections
The specimens stayed in St. Louis for an unknown amount of time.
From there, the specimens were sent to the Jesup Herbarium at Dartmouth College. They stayed there until 2002, when the Jesup Herbarium distributed a large portion of its holdings to other institutions. BRIT in Texas received around 25,000 specimens, these among them.
Plant specimen (1875) by John MuirBRIT Collections
From California to Pennsylvania, Missouri, New Hampshire, and finally Texas, these specimens have travelled over 6,000 miles. A long way to go for plants that usually stay rooted in one spot!
Muir, Muir, in Our Halls
Story created by Jessica Lane, Philecology Herbarium, Botanical Research Institute of Texas and Fort Worth Botanic Garden.
Pteridophyte specimens mobilized with additional support from the U.S. National Science Foundation Award: Digitization TCN: Collaborative Research: The Pteridological Collections Consortium: An integrative approach to pteridophyte diversity over the last 420 million years (Award No. 1802270).
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