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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)

Turkscap Lily
Plate 256
Turkscap Lily

Orange Polygala
Plate 257
Orange Polygala

$45

Turtlehead
Plate 259
Turtlehead

$45

Crossvine
Plate 261
Crossvine

$60

Cardinalflower
Plate 263
Cardinalflower

$60

Bunchberry
Plate 271
Bunchberry

Bunchberries
Plate 272
Bunchberry
(fruit of Plate 271)

$55

Woodnymph
Plate 273
Woodnymph

$55

Mourning Groundsel
Plate 275
Mourning Groundsel

$50

Snow Willow
Plate 277
Snow Willow

$40

Nodding Campion
Plate 279
Nodding Campion

$45

Golden Fleabane
Plate 280
Golden Fleabane
(no text available)

$50

Alpine Pointvetch
Plate 282
Alpine Pointvetch
(no text available)

$50

Alpine Pointvetch
Plate 282
Alpine Pointvetch
(fruit of Plate 281)

$35

Rocky Mountain Kalmia
Plate 284
Rocky Mountain Kalmia

$55

Sidebells Pyrola
Plate 285
Sidebells Pyrola

$45

Pink Pussytoes
Plate 286
Pink Pussytoes

$50

Rock Wormwood
Plate 288
Rock Wormwood

$45

Globe Anemone
Plate 291
Globe Anemone

 

Red Dewberry
Plate 293
Red Dewberry

Ladder Gentian
Plate 294
Ladder Gentian

$50

Alpine Milkvetch
Plate 295
Alpine Milkvetch

Grayleaf Fivefinger
Plate 296
Grayleaf Fivefinger

$50

Western Menziesia
Plate 298
Western Menziesia

$55


Plate 300
Yellow Willow-weed

$45

Beargrass
Plate 302
Beargrass

Pink Centaurium
Plate 303
Pink Centaurium

$60

Nodding Onion
Plate 304
Nodding Onion

$50

Rocky Mountain Rhododendron
Plate 305
Rocky Mountain Rhododendron

$60

Green Strawberry Cactus
Plate 308
Green Strawberry Cactus

$50

Tassel Cottongrass
Plate 312
Tassel Cottongrass

$50

Goldenbowl Mariposa
Plate 314
Goldenbowl Mariposa

$60

Cranberrybush
Plate 317
Cranberrybush

Menzies Pentstemon
Plate 319
Menzies Pentstemon

$55

Purple Prairieclover
Plate 320
Purple Prairieclover