Botanical expeditions

A botanical expedition (sometimes called "Plant hunting") is a scientific journey or voyage designed to explore the flora of a particular region. The expedition could be specifically designed for exploring the flora, or this could have been a part of studying the natural history of the region. A naturalist or botanist was charged with drawing and describing the flora, collecting specimens of unknown plants in a plant press, and identifying potential economically important plants. On botanical expeditions funded by governments, the plants were often collected by the person in the field, but described and named by a government sponsored scientists at botanical gardens and universities. For example, many of the species collected on the Lewis and Clark Expedition were described and named by Frederick Traugott Pursh.

Plant hunting has been the subject of criticism, for its Eurocentric and colonialist past and also attracted description as piracy and theft. This in turn has led to the creation of the Convention on Biologiocal Diversity and the Convention on Interenational Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to ensure that those countries from which the plants originated also benefit.

History

The systematic collection of plants dates from the Renaissance although accounts of organised collection date back as far as the Pharaohs of 2000 BCE who illustrated plants and trees they found on their military campaigns abroad. Later, Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE) would bring back plants from his expeditions, increasing the level of botanical knowledge of his time, and establishing the Silk Roads between the Far East and Europe. Following the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the emphasis shifted to maritime routes of exploration. The Renaissance brought a new understanding of plants fro study of ancient texts, in particular those of Aristotle and Theophrastus, leading to not only collection, but also the establishment of botanical gardens (such as those of Pisa and Padua in the 1540s and Bologna in 1568), the publication of herbals that described the plants and the teaching of botany in the universities. In addition to the collection and growing of live plants in the gardens, came the establishment of the hortus siccus (dry garden) for dried specimens.

Bibliography

• Edwards, Ambra (2021). The Plant-Hunter's Atlas: A World Tour of Botanical Adventures, Chance Discoveries and Strange Specimens. Quercus Publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ISBN 978-1-5294-1012-9.
• Janick, Jules (April 2007). "Plant Exploration: From Queen Hatshepsut to Sir Joseph Banks" (PDF). HortScience. 42 (2): 191–196.