American Society of Environmental History (ASEH) - San Francisco, 2014
Paper Presentation
Amber Waves of Smooth Brome - The Cultural History of a Non-native Grass
Dr. Elizabeth Walden, Bryant University
American Society for Environmental History
Crossing Divides
San Francisco March 12th-16th 2014
(excerpt) The historic North American tall grass prairie stretched from Texas to Saskatchewan. Descriptions from the early 19th century spark the imagination. Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) and Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) lorded over a rich biome that supported an immense number of insects, plants and animals. The artist George Catlin, writing in the 1830s, reported that he and his companions were ‘obliged to stand erect in (their) stirrups, in order to look over its waiving tops,’(Cronin 213). This prairie was home to Elk, Black Bear, Cougar, Wolf and the Buffalo, which Catlin, said congregated “into such masses in some places, as literally to blacken the prairie for miles” (Cronin 215).
Amber Waves of Smooth Brome - The Cultural History of a Non-native Grass
Dr. Elizabeth Walden, Bryant University
American Society for Environmental History
Crossing Divides
San Francisco March 12th-16th 2014
(excerpt) The historic North American tall grass prairie stretched from Texas to Saskatchewan. Descriptions from the early 19th century spark the imagination. Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) and Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) lorded over a rich biome that supported an immense number of insects, plants and animals. The artist George Catlin, writing in the 1830s, reported that he and his companions were ‘obliged to stand erect in (their) stirrups, in order to look over its waiving tops,’(Cronin 213). This prairie was home to Elk, Black Bear, Cougar, Wolf and the Buffalo, which Catlin, said congregated “into such masses in some places, as literally to blacken the prairie for miles” (Cronin 215).
