McVaugh, Rogers. EDWARD PALMER: Plant Explorer of the American West.
Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956.
Wilson, Ernest H. PLANT HUNTING. 2 vols. Boston: Stratford Co., 1927.
Davis, Wade. ONE RIVER: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain
Forest. NY: S&S, 1996, ISBN: 0-684-80886-2.
While the hardships endured by these field botanists rivaled or exceeded
those of the great polar explorers, their achievements have largely been
ignored. No television documentaries, no coffee table books mark their
staggering triumphs. Yet I think their contribution is the greater.
Motivated not by nationalism, nor the burning ambition to be "first," these
were not adventurers but scientists. Mostly working alone, Palmer in the
American West, Wilson in China, and Richard Evans Schultes in South America
(as described in ONE RIVER) made invaluable botanical
contributions-contributions which advanced our knowledge of everything from
medicine and anthropology to economic uses of rubber and other plants. With
the Axis powers choking off rubber in Asia, Schultes for instance, spent
much of World War II deep in the Amazon rain forest in a solitary quest for
high-yield rubber plants. Hostile natives, disease, impossibly rugged
terrain, loneliness-these books document a rare brand of heroism.
For the beginning collector of books on botanical exploration, these three
books are an excellent place to start. None are truly rare although the
Wilson is uncommon and all are excellent reading.
Content provided by Paul Bauer,
Archer's Used and Rare Books.