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North American Wild Flowers
by Mary Vaux Walcott (1860-1940)

Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institute, 1925
5 volumes. (edition limited to 500)

Photoengravings "Smithsonian Process" • Sheet size: 9.25 x 12.5 inches
Original descriptive text (or photocopy) accompanies print whenever possible.

 

Mary Vaux Walcott collecting wild flowers in Canada, 1920s.

photo courtesy of Smithsonian Institute

During her early years, on family summer vacations to the Rockies, Mary Vaux (rhymes with fox) developed into an accomplished amateur botanist, watercolorist, and mountaineer. Her wildflower publication was to become "the Audubon of Botany," and a 10,000-ft. peak in Jasper Park was named for her. After she married Dr. Charles D. Walcott, a noted geologist and Secretary of the Smithsonian, she accompanied him on his field trips. "This afforded me a wonderful opportunity for intimate study of the flora, my aim being to collect and paint the finest specimens obtainable, and to depict the natural grace and beauty of the plant without conventional design." She typically sketched while the pack-trains were stopped or being made ready, often warming her hands first by a small fire, and then finished the beautiful watercolors once back home in the East. Because of the short and tentative season of the wildflowers, and the often inhospitable locations on mountainsides, this endeavor occupied many seasons and arduous trips.

"As time went on and the collection grew, botanists, artists, and others interested in flowers began to urge that the water-color sketches should be permanently preserved and made available for students and lovers of the beautiful in Nature, before the dust of time faded and browned them to the hues of the pressed flowers of the herbaria." The result was the publication in 1925 of these astonishing volumes containing over 400 colored lithographic prints. Indeed, they deserve to be called "the Audubon of Botany."

 
The selection of prints below is from the 1925 Smithsonian edition of "North American Wild Flowers" which was a limited edition of 500.
"Smithsonian Process" photoengravings with strong plate marks.
Sheet size is approx. 9¼ x 12½ inches. Plate mark is at approximately 6½ x 9¾ inches.

Each print is accompanied by a 1 page description written by Mary Vaux Walcott when available.

PLEASE NOTE: THE ENTIRE SHEET IS TOO LARGE TO SCAN, BUT THE MARGINS ARE ALL FULL AND COMPLETE.
(click on a thumbnail to see the larger view)

Plate 81 Douglas Honeysuckle
Plate 81
Douglas Honeysuckle

Plate 83 Pink Twistedstalk
Plate 83
Pink Twistedstalk

$45

Plate 84 Clasping Twistedstalk
Plate 84
Clasping Twistedstalk

Plate 85 White Pea
Plate 85
White Pea

$50

Plate 86 Mountain Juniper
Plate 86
Mountain Juniper

Plate 88 Grassleaf Agoseris
Plate 88
Grassleaf Agoseris

$45

Plate 90 Showy Milkweed
Plate 90
Showy Milkweed

Plate 93 Rayless Groundsel
Plate 93
Rayless Groundsel

$35

Plate 95 American Pasqueflower
Plate 95
American Pasqueflower

$55

Plate 96 fruit of American Pasqueflower
Plate 96
American Pasqueflower
(fruit of Plate 95)

$45

Plate 99 Columbia Clematis
Plate 99
Columbia Clematis

$50

Plate 106 Rock Willow
Plate 106
Rock Willow

$45

Plate 109 Rocky Mountain Twayblade
Plate 109
Rocky Mountain Twayblade

$30

Plate 110 Spotted Saxifrage
Plate 110
Spotted Saxifrage

$35

Plate 111 Bearberry
Plate 111
Bearberry

plate 112 bearberries
Plate 112
Bearberry
(fruit of Plate 111)

$55

Plate 113 Green Pyrola
Plate 113
Green Pyrola

Plate 116 Deathcamas
Plate 116
Deathcamas

$45

Plate 118 Prairie Aster
Plate 118
Prairie Aster

Plate 119 Owl-Clover
Plate 119
Owl-Clover

$50

Plate 120 Showy Oxytrope
Plate 120
Showy Oxytrope

$55

Plate 121 Alpine Fernleaf
Plate 121
Alpine Fernleaf

$35

Plate 123 Bloodroot
Plate 123
Bloodroot

$45

Plate 124 Pyxie
Plate 124
Pyxie

$40

Plate 127 Canada Wildginger
Plate 127
Canada Wildginger

Plate 129 Wild Calla
Plate 129
Wild Calla

$50

Plate 130 Chickasaw Plum
Plate 130
Chickasaw Plum

Plate 135 Fringed Polygala
Plate 135
Fringed Polygala

$50

Plate 137 Red Maple
Plate 137
Red Maple

$55

Plate 138 Carolina Maple
Plate 138
Carolina Maple

$50

Plate 139 Longleaf Pine
Plate 139
Longleaf Pine


Plate 140 Fringetree
Plate 140
Fringetree

Plate 144 Wood Merrybells
Plate 144
Wood Merrybells

$50

Plate 145 Goldenstar
Plate 145
Goldenstar

$55

Plate 147 Crowpoison
Plate 147
Crowpoison

$45

Plate 150 Curly Clematis
Plate 150
Curly Clematis


Plate 151 Western Yarrow
Plate 151
Western Yarrow

Plate 154 Spiderlily
Plate 154
Spiderlily

$45

Plate 155 Lloyd's Strawberry Cactus
Plate 155
Lloyd's Strawberry Cactus

Plate 157 Pale Pinesap
Plate 157
Pale Pinesap

$25

Plate 158 Arum Arrowhead
Plate 158
Arum Arrowhead

$50

Plate 159 Spatterdock
Plate 159
Spatterdock

$50