Tall Trees and Far Horizons: Adventures and Discoveries of Early Botanists in America

by Virginia S. Eifert

Adventures and Discoveries of early Botanists in America, Octavo, pp.301, illustrations and B & W photos by the author

301 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1965

About the author

Virginia Louise Snider Eifert, the noted naturalist, author, and artist of Springfield, Illinois, was born on January 23, 1911. In a life that lasted only fifty-five years she produced eighteen volumes of nature writing, cultural history, and biography, along with hundreds of articles on natural history subjects. Long before she died, she had become the most popular and articulate writer on the natural world of Illinois in the state’s history, as well as one of the more well-known

Reviews

[Gavin Porter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers how botany as a field has developed throughout the course of American History, specifically from the founding of the Roanoke colony through the nineteenth century. It also mentions the discoveries of notable botanists, like the standardization of plant names by Linnaeus or Nuttall's journeys in the United States and the discovery of many plants that were new to white Americans. It also mentions how American history and botany are related, such as the goal to create colonies in order to find sassafras trees. Eifert depicts botany as a crucial field of science and understands how plants in an area can create feelings of wonder within a person.

However, while this book captures the awe of nature and the beauty of the natural world, it is often cluttered. This is because Eifert tries to focus on botany, botanists, and history. She does effectively connect them, but there are too many ideas trying to grab the reader's attention. She talks about how the revolutions of 1848 affected the notable fossil botanist, Leo Lesquereux, as it caused his work to be defunded. She then talks about how his wife helped him through these events. Then Eifert mentions how they immigrated to Boston. This information then transitions to what he studied in North America, but it consisted of information that did not discuss his discoveries, but rather more on the Lesquereux as a person. This historical context often feels dense, which gives the reader that either the history or botany is redundant, rather than creating an emphasis that both are equally important.