PIPER—FLORA OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, 15 
Museum, but good sets of his specimens are in the Gray and Torrey 
herbaria, and many others are in the Philadelphia Academy of 
Sciences. 
PICKERING AND BRACKENRIDGE. 
Dr. Charles Pickering and Mr. W. D. Brackenridge were the 
botanists of the exploring expedition under Commodore Wilkes. 
Their botanical explorations so far as Washington is concerned were 
briefly as follows: May 2, 1841, the expedition was at Port Discovery, 
remaining there until the 6th instant. On the trip up Puget Sound 
stops were made at Appletree Cove and Port Madison. The expedi- 
tion reached Fort Nisqually May 11, which place became the 
headquarters for the explorations in the interior. Pickering and 
Brackenridge were attached to Lieutenant Johnson’s party, which 
left Nisqually May 20 and crossed the Cascade Mountains by way of 
the Indian trail up White River. They reached the summit on the 
26th instant, remaining there two days, descending on the east side 
down the Spipen or Naches River. Leaving this river near its 
mouth the party traveled northward to the Yakima and thence over 
the Wenache Mountains to the Wenache River. From here the route 
was up the Columbia to Fort Okanogan, which was reached June 8. 
June 10 the journey was resumed eastward up the Columbia, and 
Fort Colville was reached June 15. From Fort Colville the party 
traveled southward, reaching Lapwai, Idaho, on June 25. A two 
days’ trip from here brought the party to Fort Walla Walla, where 
they remained until July 4. From here their route led up the 
Yakima and Naches rivers and thence over the mountains by the 
outgoing route. 
Several other exploring parties were also sent out from Nisqually, 
but the only botanical specimens collected by the expedition seem to 
have been gathered by Pickering and Brackenridge. 
The results are included in two of the large volumes devoted to 
the scientific results of the expedition. Unfortunately the original 
labels of the specimens seem in some way to have become intermixed, 
with the result that a good many plants confined to eastern Wash- 
ington bear such labels as “ Port Discovery ” and “ Nisqually,” while 
other species confined to western Washington are labeled ‘“ Walla 
Walla,” or “ North Fork of the Columbia.” On some sheets eastern 
and western Washington species are mixed, and mounted over a 
single label. With the details of the party’s itinerary known, it is 
possible, however, to tell with some accuracy where the specimens 
must have been gathered. 
