Digitizing Engelmann's Legacy:

Providing Web Access To Plant Specimens Documenting the Great American Frontier

The Missouri Botanical Garden has digitized and created an online public display of the Engelmann Herbarium of plant specimens. The approximately 8,000 specimens gathered during pioneering expeditions into the American West following those of Lewis and Clark are the first scientific records of the plants growing in the vast wilderness west of the Mississippi River. The collection forms the earliest verifiable documentation of species occurrences in that pristine landscape, before the rapid migration west permanently altered the landscape through human introduction of non-native invasive species. These specimens will provide a historic complement to the 3.9 million specimens already accessible through Tropicos. In addition to more than 8,000 specimen images, the project has also digitized more than 100 volumes of published works resulting from the expeditions, and has also integrated new spatial analysis tools into Tropicos for advanced visualization of specimen collections. More...

Use the links along the left to explore the site or quickly review the following samples:

• Specimen image - Heuchera sanguinea Engelm.
• Book - The botanical works of the late George Engelmann - downloadable bibliography
• Interactive map of collections by Gregg, Lindheimer and Wislizenus

This project is sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and ESRI.