A Region of Astonishing Beauty: The Botanical Exploration of the Rocky Mountains

As we approach the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 2004, attention will inevitably turn to the nineteenth-century explorers who risked life and limb to interpret the natural history of the American West. Beginning with Meriwether Lewis and his discovery of the bitterroot, the goal of most explorers was not merely to find an adequate route to the Pacific, but also to comment on the state of the region's ecology and its suitability for agriculture, and, of course, to collect plant specimens. In this book, Williams follows the trail of over a dozen explorers who "botanized" the Rocky Mountains, and who, by the end of the nineteenth century, became increasingly convinced that the flora of the American West was distinctive. The sheer wonder of discover, which is not lost on Williams or his subjects, was best captured by botanist Edwin James in 1820 as he emerged above timberline in Colorado to come upon "a region of astonishing beauty."

Author: Roger L. Williams
Publisher: Roberts Rinehart Publishers
Published: 05/07/2003
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.73lbs
Size: 8.94h x 6.02w x 0.65d
ISBN13: 9781570983979
ISBN10: 1570983976
BISAC Categories:
- Nature | Plants | General
- History | Expeditions & Discoveries
- Nature | Ecosystems & Habitats | Mountains

About the Author
Roger L. Williams is professor emeritus of history at the University of Wyoming and is one of the leading authorities on the history of botany in both the United States and Europe. He is also co-author with Ruth Ashton Nelson of Guide to Rocky Mountain Plants.