Growing America

List of Virginia Plants

The vegetation of North America was of great interest to the European colonizers, both as a wonder to behold and a resource to exploit. The early settlers were deeply interested in plants. They explored what seemed to them an endless wilderness, and with the zeal of the enlightenment, set out to catalog, understand, and control the natural world. Thomas Jefferson epitomizes this drive, with his gardens at Monticello, and his desire to explore Westward. At Monticello, where he enslaved over 400 people to work his estate, Jefferson kept meticulous records of the flora and fauna, the seasons and weather changes. In these notes for Jefferson’s book Notes on the State of Virginia, published in 1788, we see a list he made of plants native to Virginia, including the Magnolia acuminata, or cucumber tree.

Thomas Jefferson, List of Virginia Plants. 1786. https://www.loc.gov/item/mtjbib002443/. https://www.loc.gov/resource/ mtj1.006_0964_0965/?st=gallery

A Closer Look

Examine Jefferson’s plant list. Can you read it? How was it written? Are there any familiar plant names? Which ones?

How did he list the plants? In what order? What information is included? What is left out? Why?

Describe the image of the magnolia. How big do you think the leaves and flowers are? What clues do you see that tell you about its size? Are they accurate? Look closely; how did the artist show light and shade? What techniques were used? What clues tell you that this is a print and not a drawing?

Magnolia

Mark Catesby included the Magnolia acuminata in his work, The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. The engraving was likely done by Catesby himself, who taught himself the skill in order to produce this lavish publication more affordably. As a young man, Catesby had spent more than seven years in Virginia, where he collected seeds and documented plants. He returned to the Carolinas and traveled south to create this grand work on the birds and plants of the region. While most of the book’s illustrations are from Catesby’s own sketches, often done from nature, the plate shown here is based on a watercolor by Georg Dionysius Ehret, who never visited North America. Erhet appears to have seen two specimens of magnolia and conflated them here, with the leaves of the M. acuminata, and the bloom of the M. virginiana. Jefferson owned a copy of The Natural History of and cross-referenced Catesby on his Birds of Virginia list in Notes on the State of Virginia

Mark Catesby. The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands: containing the figures of birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, insects, and plants: particularly the forest-trees, shrubs, and other plants, not hitherto described, or very incorrectly figured by authors: together with their descriptions in English and French, to which, are added observations on the air, soil, and waters, with remarks upon agriculture, grain, pulse, roots, &c.: to the whole, is prefixed a new and correct map of the countries treated of. London: Printed at the expense of the author, and sold by W. Innys and R. Manby ... by Mr. Hauksbee, at the Royal Society House, and by the author, at Mr. Bacon’s in Hoxton, -43, 1731. https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbctos.2017gen00176v2/?sp=396&q=catesby+mark This drawing by Willaim Bartram is the Bartram’s Garden (Philadelphia, PA) signature tree, the Franklinia alatamaha, named for Benjamin Franklin, a close friend of the Bartram family. William and his father, John, discovered the tree in 1765 in southern Georgia during one of their plant and seed hunting trips. William brought the seed back to the garden in 1777. The plant has not been found in the wild since the early 19th century but cultivation by the Bartrams saved it from extinction. All current Franklinia are descended from those grown by the Bartrams. Bartram’s Garden is a 46- acre historic Philadelphia garden and arboretum. Founded in 1728, it is the oldest surviving botanical garden in North America.

Bartram, William. Franklinia alatamaha. (n.d.) Violettea Delafield - Benjamin Smith Barton Collection. https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/islandora/object/ franklinia-alatamaha