will come too late. Perhaps you can get the specimens from Mr. McMahon or Dr. Barton." Baldwin in his reply states that he too has "no specimens of Lewis's plants." (Darlington, p. 35.)

This anxiety expressed on all sides that justice might be done the merits of Lewis casts an interesting flash of light on the jealousies prevailing among the botanists of Philadelphia at that time. Pastor Muhlenberg's prophesy was fulfilled, since descriptions of Lewis's plants were published in London by Pursh in 1814. If he had not done so, the effects of a century of neglect would have robbed the material seen by Pursh of the greater part of its value and would have denied to the memory of Lewis most of the credit now awarded him by botanists.

Two years elapse before we hear anything more from either Jefferson or McMahon about the Lewis plants. In the meantime Jefferson gardens ardently at home and McMahon's seed business grows. During this interval, too, McMahon seems to have felt the strictness of his guardianship in some way relaxed, since on February 28, 1812,1 he sends to Jefferson plants grown from Lewis's introductions.

"No. 1. Ribes odoratissimum (mihi). This is one of Captain Lewis's and an important,shrub, the fruit very large, of a dark purple colour, the flowers yellow, showey and extremely fragrant.

No. 2. Symphoricarpos leucocarpa (mihi). This is a beautiful shrub brought by C. Lewis from the River Columbia, the flower is small but neat, the berries hang in large clusters and of a snow white colour and continue on the shrubs, retaining their beauty, all the winter, especially if kept in a greenhouse. The shrub is perfectly hardy: I have given it the trivial english name of Snowberry-bush.

No. 3. The Yellow Currant of the River Jefferson; this is specifically different from the other, but I have not given it a specific botanical name."

Jefferson takes the season in which to try out the new plants before writing to McMahon. This he did on October II, 1812,1 writing from Monticello.

1 Jefferson papers, Ser. II, V. 62, No. 113. 2 Jefferson papers, Ser. II, V. 62, No. 125.

"The articles received in the spring . . . have been remarkably successful. one only of the cuttings of the snowberry failed. the rest are now very flourishing and shew some of the most beautiful berries I have ever seen. the sweet scented currant, the yellow currant, the red gooseberries and Hudson strawberries are all flourishing."

Jefferson and McMahon continue to correspond on many garden matters, such as crown imperials, dahlias and gladioli and on matters botanical, such as the hickory from Virginia growing the huge nut, and other things. McMahon is happy in September 23, 1812 to be able to report that his nursery and seed business is making better progress than he had hoped. (Jefferson papers, Ser. II, V. 62, No. 115.)

During his stay in France, Jefferson had made a friend of M. Thouin, the head of the Royal Gardens of Paris, and was the recipient for some years of annual packages of seeds collected by M. Thouin. These seeds usually found their way to McMahon. In time Jefferson feels himself able to repay the compliment by sending Clark's novelties to Paris. He broaches the subject to McMahon in a letter from Monticello dated May 30, 1813.1

"If you could make up a collection of the seeds of the plants brought to us by Governor Lewis from beyond the Mississippi, it would be a just and grateful return which M. Thouin merits at our hands. He expresses to me a great desire for the plants of the region beyond the Mississippi."

He follows with characteristically complete directions for sending them via Monticello to M. Thouin.

The correspondence between Jefferson and McMahon closed, as far as I have been able to learn, when Jefferson on July 23, 1815 writes to McMahon sending the usual shipment of seeds from M. Thouin. This part of the record was closed by the death of McMahon.

Jefferson clearly gave up the idea of withholding knowledge of the Lewis plants until the publication of the records of the Expedition could take place, at some date prior to the request 1 1 Jefferson papers, Ser. II, V. 62, No. 128.

that McMahon send a collection of seeds to Paris in 1813. He himself feels free to send the snowberry to his old friend, Mme. de Tessé, an aunt of General Lafayette.

On December 8, 1813,' he writes her from Monticello:

"Lewis's journey across our continent to the Pacific has added a number of new plants to our former stock. Some of them are curious, some ornamental, some useful, and some may by culture be made acceptable to our tables. I have growing, which I destine for you, a very handsome little shrub of the size of a currant bush. Its beauty consists in a great produce of berries of the size of currants, and literally as white as snow, which remain on the bush through the winter, after its leaves have fallen, and make it an object as singular as it is beautiful. We call it the snow-berry bush, no botanical name being yet given to it, but I do not know why we might not call it Chionicoccus, or Kallicococcus. All Lewis's plants are growing in the garden of Mr. McMahon, a gardener of Philadelphia, to whom I consigned them and from whom I shall have great pleasure when peace is restored, in ordering for you any of these or of our other indigenous plants."

The beauty of the snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus Blake var. laevigatus Blake) seems to have greatly impressed Jefferson, who later yielded to generous impulse and in one of the curiously stiff notes that people in those days sometimes wrote even to their friends, sends a bush to his old neighbor, General John Cocke on March 27, 1817.2

"Th. Jefferson . . . adds . . . some cuttings of the snowberry bush, brought from the Pacific, by Captain Lewis. Its beauty is in the snow white bunches of berries which it retains after the leaf has fallen; it is of the size of a goose-berry bush. He does not know certainly that it will grow from a cutting, but believes it will, and is sorry he has not a bush to spare with roots.

It is a matter of common knowledge that several of Lewis's plants eventually found their way into general cultivation and have long since become widely distributed. Of the species recorded by Pursh and others as present in the

1 Thwaites, R. G., “Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 18041806," Vol. 7, 393.

2 Cabell Manuscripts in Virginia State Library, Richmond, Va.

herbarium material brought back by Lewis and represented in his seed collection the following are to-day listed among the common ornamental or useful plants:

(1) The Osage orange (Toxylon pomiferum Raf.) widely used some decades ago as a hedge plant, and still often planted because

of the beauty and vigor of its growth as well as for its curious fruit.

(2) The Snowberry bush (Symphoricarpos albus Blake var. laevigatus Blake) so frequently mentioned above.

(3) The Golden, yellow-flowering or Buffalo currant, also called the Missouri currant in many writings (Ribes odoratum Mendl.— R. longiflorum Nutt.)

(4) The winter currant (Ribes sanguinium Pursh).

Several other plants represented in the herbarium collection but not known to have been represented in the list of seeds are now of general value.

(1) Oregon Grape (Mahonia Aquifolium Nutt. Berberis Aquifolium Pursh) is largely cultivated for the stiff evergreen foliage and for the inflorescence. ⚫

(2) Clarkia pulchella Pursh, a hardy annual plant. Named for Captain Clark, now cultivated in dwarf and some double horticultural forms.

(3) The bitter root (Lewisia rediviva Pursh) named for Captain Lewis, with edible root and fleshy leaves grown among succulent ornamentals.

The list might be lengthened, since the complete list of plants grown from seed was perhaps never made a matter of record. Probably, however, McMahon was not very wrong in estimating that he had under cultivation as many as twenty-five species. I think it quite likely that the list was much larger than that of which we have specific mention.

The question is immediately presented as to how these plants came to be so widely disseminated after the effort to hold them for Captain Lewis's direction was terminated. following his death.

We know that McMahon was in business as a seedsman and nurseryman before the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and that his business was flourishing at the time

1

of his death in 1816. His wife continued his work after his demise, issuing from time to time the well-known seed catalogues. I have examined the catalogue of 1815 and find little mention of the plants in question. He lists 1 for sale (1) The early Arikara Kidney bean, “a form of Phaseolus vulgaris cultivated by these Indians (p. 6); the perennial flax, that may have been the old world form known as Linum perenne L. or its American form named Linum Lewisii Pursh. The western flax is now listed as an ornamental under the name of "prairie flax." In the same catalogue the dwarf maize known as Mandan corn was also offered for sale as a seed used in Rural Economy (p. 30). Mention is made of Symphoricarpos vulgaris, a name now applied to the western Coral berry, a near neighbor of the snowberry of Lewis's list. It is probable that the plant here concerned is that now known by the latter name and was the plant so admired by Jefferson. One looks in vain for the Osage orange and other plants that McMahon undoubtedly grew.

An inspection of the plants offered for sale by Robert Carr, from Bartram's Garden in 1828 reveals two of Lewis's plants: The Osage orange (Maclura aurantiaca) valued for its "beautiful foliage and curious fruit" (p. 23); and Lewis's Missouri ornamental Currant" (p. 44).2

That these Lewis plants continued to fill their places in American horticulture may be seen from works of later date.

Kendrick in his Orchard list, published in Boston in 1833, furnishes evidence that these plants were attracting attention at more distant places. He lists "Jefferson's Missouri fragrant currant" (p. 293), and "Snowberry, a very hardy shrub from the Rocky Mountains" (p. 396).

1 McMahon, Bernard, A catalogue of Garden, Herb, Flower, Tree, Shrub, and Grass seeds; Gardening, Agricultural and Botanical Books, Garden Tools, etc. Sold By Bernard McMahon, No. 30 South Second Street, Philadelphia. Who has likewise for sale, Plants of above fifty varieties of Most Superior English, Irish and Scotch Gooseberries. 1815 (dated in pen), Philadelphia, Printed by William Duane.

2 Carr, Robert, Periodical Catalogue of Fruit and ornamental Trees and shrubs, Green House Plants etc. Cultivated and for sale at Bartram's Garden Kingsessing, Near Gray's Ferry-Four miles from Philadelphia. Robert Carr, Proprietor. Philadelphia 1828.