by Marina McDougall, Senior Curator for the Academy of Natural Sciences and co-curator of Botany of Nations
Photos by John Hutelmyer
As the United States prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, Philadelphia will be a center of cultural activity with rich opportunities to consider the complex themes at the foundation of our democracy.
Behind the scenes, the Academy of Natural Sciences is anticipating the moment with the exhibition Botany of Nations: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery, on view from March 28, 2026- February 14, 2027. The project is rooted in one of the Academy’s most iconic collections, the Lewis & Clark Herbarium—the plants collected and pressed and extensively documented in journals by Meriwether Lewis during the legendary Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery to explore lands west of the Mississippi River. The Academy houses and stewards 222 of these plants – many on behalf of the American Philosophical Society. Another 10 are at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew outside London.
The Exhibition
Botany of Nations will offer what project co-curator, ethnobotanist and agroecologist Enríque Salmon, calls a rich “re-storying” of the prevailing account of the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery (1804-06) , a story that has been foundational to instilling a sense of national identity.
Over the course of their 8,000-mile epic journey, the Corps traveled through some 49 sovereign native nations, meeting with tribal leaders as part of a nation building mission conceived by President Jefferson and supported by Congress just after the signing of the Louisiana Purchase.
Botany of Nations will forefront the voices and perspectives of Indigenous people, who for millennia have inhabited and sustainably managed the lands that Lewis and Clark traversed, and contributed richly to the scientific knowledge advanced by the expedition.
Through collaboration with botanists, ethnobotanists, cultural historians and partnering organizations, the exhibition’s goal is to bring the natural science story to life – through a combination of western scientific and Indigenous ethnobotanical perspectives to create a culturally layered view of the remarkable plants of North America.
The exhibition aims to show how the Lewis & Clark Herbarium—which features some of the oldest plant specimens in the country—and the ongoing cultivation of heritage plants through agroecology and traditional foodways, safeguards a biodiverse future and food sovereignty in an age of species loss and climate change.
While there has been extensive scholarship and cultural interpretation of the Corps of Discovery, Botany of Nations breaks new ground, by focusing on the plant story and offering insight into indigenous approaches to land through what Salmón describes as “kincentric” ways of understanding the intimate interrelationship of all living things.
A Steering Committee guided the selection of the seven plants that will be featured in the exhibition based on their importance in food, medicine, crafting and ceremony as well as to reflect the geographical terrain encompassed in the Lewis & Clark trail.
Annotations on the individual herbarium sheets, as well as the extensive journal entries, enable us to geolocate the plants to where they were originally observed or collected by Lewis within the range of roughly a county.
Re-Collecting Camas
Over the late spring and early fall, I traveled along with staff media maker John Hutelmyer and ethnobotanists on both sides of the Rocky Mountain to re-collect the plants, and to document the contemporary landscapes where the plants are situated today—coming to understand how the North American landscape has been dramatically transformed in the intervening 220 years.
Collaborating native nations’ cultural historians met us along the way as ethnobotanists created new herbarium sheets for each of the seven plants. These recollected plants will be added to the Lewis & Clark Herbarium with ethnobotanical interviews. (See our blog post “Open to Collaborate” from October 2024 on this initiative.)
Perhaps the most famous plant from the Corps of Discovery, is Camassia quamash (camas).
In late May when Camassia quamash (camas) was in bloom, Nakia Williamson Cloud, Cultural Resources Director for the Nez Perce and his wife Sheryl Steinhauer (Plains Cree) met us on the Weippe Prairie.
Camas is a corm, an underground plant stem that is similar to a bulb, that grows in the meadows of high plateaus. From a distance the periwinkle color of the blossoms gives the illusion of water. The plants re-emerge after the snow melt. The Nez Perce harvest camas after the ground dries from summer heat in the early autumn. Camas is traditionally harvested by women who dig it with tuké–digging sticks that are passed down generation by generation—before baking it in ovens for several days.
The Nez Perce famously fed it to the famished Lewis & Clarke expedition in late September 1805 after their harrowing journey over the Bitterroot Mountains. While it saved the Corps, it also made them quite sick since, like Jerusalem Artichoke, camas with its inulin (a soluble fiber) can be hard on gastrointestinal systems—particularly for populations that haven’t co-evolved with the plant.
During our visit, Williamson sang a ceremonial song and then Steinhauer demonstrated how the corms are harvested using the tuké.
Williamson showed us how agriculture introduced pasture grasses such as timothy (Phleum pratensis) into the meadow that compete with the camas. He suggested that we visit Musselshell Meadows in the Clearwater National Forest where the Nez Perce continue to gather the camas root today. For a decade, Williamson has been working with Park leadership to protect the meadow from cattle grazing and through watershed restoration projects that emulates the work of beavers. The meadow was buzzing with insects and wildlife when we visited.
We are excited to return the hopsitality of Williamson and Steinhauer as they join us here In Philadelphia for The Botany of Nations opening on March 27 and place a digging stick that he has specially carved for the exhibition into a case in the exhibition along with some cooked camas.
Stay tuned for more details on the Botany of Nation’s opening event and how you can join us to celebrate this groundbreaking exhibition.
You can support the Academy’s research efforts to understand the natural world and inspire everyone to care for it by becoming a member or donating to our scientific collections.
Tú también puedes apoyar los proyectos de investigación de la Academia, y así ayudar a entender y proteger la riqueza natural convirtiéndote en miembro o haciendo una donación a nuestras colecciones científicas.