Munger, Susan H. Common to This Country: Botanical Discoveries of Lewis and Clark. Illustrations by Charlotte Staub Thomas. Artisan, 2003.
Reason read: August is Friendship month. Read in honor of Lewis and Clark’s relationship.
Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, an exploring match made in heaven. Lewis’s specialty was botany and Clark was an expert at creating topography maps. Together, they spent two and a half years traveling the country from the Louisiana Purchase to the Pacific Ocean in search of a waterway passage. Along the way, they were tasked with collecting, preserving and recording thousands of artifacts for President Thomas Jefferson. With the help of Sacagawea and varying native tribes, the members of the Corps of Discovery made their way over hundred of miles of prairies, mountains, cataloging and describing every rock, bird, animal, flora and fauna along the way.
Munger had a diplomatic way of describing conflict with certain Native American tribes. She called their relationship “edgy.”
In addition to sharing parts of Lewis and Clark’s journals and interesting facts about each plant, Munger shares if the particular plant can be purchased in a garden center.
Here are the flowers Munger highlighted in Common to This Country:
- Osage Orange – supposedly this plant is still growing on the University of Virginia campus. It is said to be the direct descendant of the cutting sent by Lewis.
- Calliopsis – used as a dye or tea. I want to see if I can grow this in my garden.
- Bur Oak – fire, drought, and pollution resistant.
- Narrow Leaf Coneflower – used to “cure” the bite of a mad dog or rattlesnake.
- Lewis’s Prairie Flax – each bloom only lasts one day
- Prickly Pear – probably my favorite from the southwest.
- Western Serviceberry
- Snowberry – planted on the banks to hold soil in place and prevent erosion.
- Angelica – used for respiratory ailments and as a sweetener.
- Camas – used the root to make bread.
- Bearberry
- Oregon Grape Holly
- Lewis’s Syringa – used to make needles or combs.
- Glacier Lily – the bulb, leaves, flowers and seed pods are all edible.
- Ragged Robin – beautiful and uniquely shaped flowers.
- Silky Lupine – probably my favorite of the bunch highlighted since they remind me of the lupine we have at home.
- Old Man’s Whiskers – a unique looking flower that resembles an old or wisps of smoke.
- Shrubby Penstemon – related to the Indian Paintbrush.
- Monkeyflower – it needs a “cool situation” in order to thrive.
- Bearberry Honeysuckle – not edible
- Gumbo Evening Primrose
- Bear Grass – a very beautiful plant that can lapse for ten years between blooms.
- Ponderosa Pine – Indians ate the inner bark, seeds and rosin.
- Bitterroot – the state flower of Montana.
- Wood Lily – the official flower in the emblem for the Province of Saskatchewan.
As an aside, I was thrilled to learn of the pen pal relationship of Bartram and Collinson. while they never met, the exchanged letters for thirty-five years. I find that remarkable.
Book trivia: the map to plot Lewis & Clark’s journey is stunning. Common to This Country was dedicated to “The Tennis Group” whoever they are.
BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Lewis and Clark: Adventurers Extraordinaire” (p 136).
~*LunaSea*~ 