Botanical expeditions

A botanical expedition is a scientific journey or voyage designed to explore the flora of a particular region. The expedition could be specifically designed for exploring the flora, or this could have been a part of studying the natural history of the region. A naturalist or botanist was charged with drawing and describing the flora, collecting specimens of unknown plants in a plant press, and identifying potential economically important plants. On botanical expeditions funded by governments, the plants were often collected by the person in the field, but described and named by a government sponsored scientists at botanical gardens and universities. For example, many of the species collected on the Lewis and Clark Expedition were described and named by Frederick Traugott Pursh.