Joe Pye is such a friendly name. I've often wondered who Joe Pye actually was, as plant nomenclature fascinates me. A quick Wiki turned up a suspiciously lack-luster explanation, so I found a reputable prairie plant site and read a well researched article (backed by primary sources) that gives the most possible origin of the name. Looks like there was a Joseph Pye, aka Shauqueathquat, an 18th century Mohegan who lived in Massuchesetts. He was also a well-known herbalist. The plant mentioned as Joe Pye weed shows up in one of the earliest American botanical guides (and an even earlier mention of Joseph Pye, the individual, in a diary dated 1787).
I'd love to have been a Quaker woman of this age, and converse with Joe Pye some sunny late summer afternoon about this flower or that root and thank him for lending his name for the common term of Eupatorium purpureum!
Link to the Joe Pye article posted on the Prairie Works blog is below...
4 comments:
Lovely info, the swallowtail butterfly is stunning, and so is the illustration. I must get back to blogging :)
Okay- really love the new header- probably not the new but first in a long time I can enjoy my blog roll!
Thanks you guys! Blogging is harder to find time for than it used to be. I do love having a record of the creative part of my life. Connecting with nice illustrators like you two however, is where the real worth lies! But lately I have been pondering whether to continue keeping the blog. I have a facebook author page as well where I try and post different images and ephemeral type infomation. But sometimes, between the blog and the fb page and the urge to keep things fresh and authentic, I feel I sit more at my computer than at my board! None-the-less, I love popping in on your sites, so for now, I will carry on. Sorry for the comment soliloquy:)
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