To California with Jepson's “Phyto-Jogs” in 1913

Abstract

The Second International Phytogeographical Excursion of 1913 was initiated by University of Chicago's Henry Cowles and represented the first international party of plant geographers to visit the United States. Among the twelve Europeans who participated were Cambridge University's Alfred Tansley, first president of the British Ecological Society (and later to coin the word “ecosystem”), and Adolf Engler, taxonomist and biogeographer of Berlin's Royal Botanical Gardens. Arriving in New York City at the end of July, the excursionists (nicknamed the “Phyto-jogs” by Willis Jepson) traveled by train to the West Coast, with stops in a variety of ecosystems. After arriving at San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Northwest in early September, the Phyto-jogs, guided by University of California's Jepson, proceeded to Yosemite National Park for field trips and a famous group photograph among Mariposa Grove's Giant Sequoias. On September 12 in Oakland, several of the European scientists presented major lectures at the California Botanical Society's first annual banquet. The following days included visits to sites of local interest, including Burbank's experimental garden, Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods with Alice Eastwood, and the Carnegie Institution's Coastal Laboratory at Carmel. The last two days covered the California desert, including the Salton Sea, and Tucson's Carnegie Desert Laboratory within the Sonoran Desert. A year later Professor Tansley, reflecting on the phytogeographical diversity of America and the varied researches of its many energetic ecologists, wrote: “In that vast field of ecology America has secured a commanding position.”