On January 20, this specimen was found in Montserrat, in the Caribbean, by John A. Shafer, who became the museum’s first curator of the herbarium in 1897. Known as “devil weed,” Chromolaena odorata is in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). It is native to the Caribbean, Mexico, and subtropical United States, and it has become a problematic invader in tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and the Pacific.
Botanists at Carnegie Museum of Natural History share pieces of the herbarium’s historical hidden collection on the dates they were discovered or collected. Check back for more!