Camas bulb planting recognizes botanist’s work

UNION — Union’s own pioneer botanist, William Cusick, was honored recently when the William Cusick Chapter of the Native Plant Society planted nearly 100 bulbs of camas named after Cusick near his grave at the Union Victorian Cemetery.

Cusick was a pioneer because in 1853 at age 11 he traveled from Illinois to Oregon. He is called a botanist because he discovered masses of plants in Eastern Oregon in the early days, including a variety of camas mostly found in Eastern Oregon that was later dubbed Camassia cusickii. Cusick discovered the camas, sometimes described as gargantuan, in the late 1800s.

Settling on a ranch in Eastern Oregon, Cusick and his brother are considered two of the earliest settlers of the Powder River Valley. At about age 35, Cusick started sending in his plant specimens to Asa Grey of Harvard University. The specimens are now held at the Special Collections Achieves at the University of Oregon Libraries, said Rhoda Love of the Native Plant Society of Oregon.

Before being completely held back by deafness and blindness, Cusick explored the Wallowa and Blue mountains, discovering all kinds of new flora. He died at the age of 80 in 1922 and is buried at the Union Victorian Cemetery.

Love said that Cusick’s original gravestone was small and not particularly noticeable. After Donna Patterson, the board chairman of the cemetery district, read about Cusick’s life and accomplishments, “she set to work to make his stone reflect his previously unrecognized status,” Love said. “The headstone is now several times taller, with more text, and is positioned to face the road.”

To further honor Cusick, Patterson, along with members of the Plant Society that bears his name, decided to plant his camas near his grave.

Members of the The William Cusick Chapter of the Native Plant Society say Cusick was, “Unknown about his greatness.”