Lewis’ Blue Flax

Linum lewisii (Pursh)

Haȟúŋtahu(Lakȟóta)

This plant species—also known as Wild Blue Flax—was named for Meriwether Lewis, of Lewis & Clark fame. The Lewis & Clark expedition was also a naturalist expedition, its ornithic discoveries including Clark’s Nutcracker (first described by Clark, of course) and Lewis’s Woodpecker (first described by Lewis). Lewis was also the first naturalist to distinguish the very similar Western Meadowlark from its close Eastern relative, although Audubon gave the species its formal ornithological recognition—and scientific name, Sturnella neglecta—as a species that had previously been neglected, until Lewis came along.

Blackburnian Warbler

Setophaga fusca (Statius Müller)

Sitúpi waŋblíla (Lakȟóta)

The Blackburnian Warbler is one of the most colorful warblers that grace the eastern Great Plains a few weeks a year on its migratory journey back or forth to Canada. One might guess that its name comes from the stunning black and burnt orange of its plumage; but one would be wrong. Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller was the zoologist who named the bird, after Anna Blackburne. Anna Blackburne was an English botanist who received the unknown bird from her brother Ashton. Ashton had moved to the United States, where he had shot the poor bird.