The Mulford Biological Exploration of the Amazon Basin was a scientific expedition to the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

conducted in 1921. It was organized by

Henry Hurd Rusby Henry Hurd Rusby (1855–1940) was an American botanist, pharmacist and explorer. He discovered several new species of plants and played a significant role in founding the New York Botanical Garden and developing research and exploration progra ...

, who at age 64, was a well known explorer, a professor at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, and a staff member at the

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

. He hired Orland Emile White, a staff member at the

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) is a botanical garden in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City. It was founded in 1910 using land from Mount Prospect Park in central Brooklyn, adjacent to Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Museum. The garden holds ...

, to assist with collection and handling of plant specimens. The expedition was financed by the H. K. Mulford Company, a pharmaceutical company. Its mission was to explore the

Amazon Valley Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology co ...

from the headwaters of the Quime River in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

to the mouth of the

Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The expedition left

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...

, Bolivia, in July 1921. Rusby was forced to leave the expedition due to

neuritis Neuritis () is inflammation of a nerve or the general inflammation of the peripheral nervous system. Inflammation, and frequently concomitant demyelination, cause impaired transmission of neural signals and leads to aberrant nerve function. Neurit ...

, an infected tooth, and his age; however, White and Martín Cárdenas continued to collect. The expedition lasted eight months, but never reached the Amazon.

Expedition

News from 1921: The expedition leaves the field in March 1922:

Results

The botanists returned with over 2,400 collections representing more than 1,500 species of plant life. Their collections included a large amount of

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

, termites, economic plants and seeds. Rusby worked through most of the samples himself identifying six new genera and 257 new species. The main collection from the expedition are located at the

and at the

. During the expedition, Gordon MacCreagh wrote a book about its trials and tribulations. ''White Waters and Black'' was published in 1923.

Members

, director *

William M. Mann William Montana Mann (1886–1960) was an American entomologist and the fifth director of the National Zoological Park (United States), National Zoo in Washington, D.C. from 1925 until 1956. In 1921, he traveled on the Mulford Expedition to the ...

, entomologist * Orland Emile White, botanist *

Nathan Everett Pearson Nathan Everett Pearson (1895–1982) was an American ichthyologist. He was a student of Carl H. Eigenmann at Indiana University. He traveled on the Mulford Expedition to the Amazon. He collected 6,000 specimens and discovered 25 new species. Boo ...

, ichthyologist * Walter Duval Brown *

Frederick Ludwig Hoffman Frederick Ludwig Hoffman (May 2, 1865 Varel, Germany - February 23, 1946, San Diego, California) was an American statistician who showed great foresight on some public health issues, but his work in some areas was biased by his scientific racist v ...

Gordon MacCreagh Gordon MacCreagh (1889 in Perth, IndianaEllis, Doug. ''The Best of Adventure, Volume 2 - 1913-1914''. Black Dog Books, 2012. (p.13,18-9). – 1953) was an American writer. MacCreagh was the son of Scottish parents, possibly born in Perth, Ind ...

* G. S. McCarty * Martín Cárdenas

References

{{reflist

Expedition

Results

Members

References

See also