Mulford Expedition

The Mulford Biological Exploration of the Amazon Basin was an scientific expedition to the Amazon conducted in 1921.^[1] It was organized by Henry Hurd Rusby, who was 64 years old at the time, was a well known explorer, professor at Columbia University and a staff member at the New York Botanical Garden. He hired Orland Emile White, a staff member at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, to assist with collection and handling of plant specimens. Its mission was to explore the Amazon Valley from the headwaters of the Quime River in Bolivia to the mouth of the Amazon River in Brazil. The expedition was financed by the H. K. Mulford Company. It left La Paz, Bolivia in July 1921. Due to ill health, Rusby was forced to leave the expedition due to neuritis, an infected tooth and his age; but White and Martin Cardenas continued to collect.^[2] The expedition lasted eight months, but never reached the Amazon.

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, termites,^[3] 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 New York Botanical Garden and at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.^[4]

White Waters and Black

During the expedition, Gordon MacCreagh wrote a book about its trials and tribulations, White Waters and Black which was published in 1923.^[5]

Members

• Henry Hurd Rusby, director
• William M. Mann, entomologist
• Orland Emile White, botanist
• Nathan Everett Pearson, ichthyologist
• Walter Duval Brown
• Frederick Ludwig Hoffman
• Gordon MacCreagh
• G. S. McCarty
• Martín Cárdenas (botanist)

References

See also

Collections from the Mulford Expedition