Charles Wright

In 1837, the botanist Charles Wright arrived in Zavalla to teach school, later moving to Town Bluff where he worked as a surveyor, relocating again to act as an assistant principal near La Grange and as a teacher in Austin. In 1849, he studied and collected plants on the Van Horne military expedition, walking over 1300 miles in the round-trip from San Antonio to El Paso, and returning with more than 1400 specimens. The Smithsonian contributed $150 toward the 1849 expedition, which some believe was an early step towards a national herbarium. Wright also joined the 1851 Mexico-United States boundary survey under Lieutenant James Graham. During the 1851 expedition alone, he brought back about 2500 plant specimens from Texas, including 67 type specimens – species newly described based on his collections. Many of Wright’s findings were published in works by the noted scientists, Asa Gray, John Torrey, and George Engelmann.