Botany of Nations at The Academy of Natural Sciences

What to Expect

The Corps of Discovery — made up of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and nearly 40 other men — embarked on an expedition in 1804 to explore the newly acquired western portion of the country. Along the way, they encountered Indigenous people, who shared cultural plant knowledge with the explorers.

In Botany of Nations, visitors can see over 200 of those preserved plants — which were hand-picked by Lewis — and learn more about the Indigenous sites where they were collected and how Indigenous peoples used plants throughout history.

The exhibition also showcases the explorers’ journal passages, illustrating how the Indigenous people they met respected and celebrated the plants, animals and land around them.

Botany of Nations is created in collaboration with Indigenous-led nonprofit Local Contexts which provides strategies for managing, sharing and protecting digital heritage. The exhibition also features guidance from a steering committee of ethnobotanists, Indigenous knowledge keepers and scholars, including co-curator Enrique Salmón (Rarámuri /Tarahumara) and Local Contexts’ founding executive director Stephany Runninghawk Johnson (Oglala Lakota).