In 1927, Clemson botanist D.B. Rosenkrans collected and preserved a specimen of this now-extinct population of Oconee bells (Shortia galacifolia) that once grew in the town of Jocassee, South Carolina, which is now submerged beneath Lake Jocassee.
Collected nearly 100 years ago from a landscape that no longer exists, this rare record belongs to the Clemson University Herbarium, a physical and digital collection that holds more than 100,000 pressed plant specimens from across the Southeast. Part of the Bob & Betsy Campbell Museum of Natural History, the Herbarium includes a small classroom-library, a specimen workroom, a plant-drying room and several collection rooms.
Since the turn of the 20th century, the Herbarium has served the University’s land-grant mission by providing a valuable resource to researchers and the public. Each plant specimen contains visual, genetic and written information that can advance knowledge in scientific fields, including discoveries about medicinal properties, the location of metals in soils, and the impact of environmental change on ecosystems.
