Schultes was able to capture some of his discoveries and observations on camera. His photographs and memorabilia are the focus of a temporary exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History entitled, “The Lost Amazon: The Photographic Journey of Legendary Botanist Richard Evans Schultes,” on view April 17 through Oct. 31.

“Richard Evan Schultes is a towering figure in the field of ‘ethnobotany,’ the science which studies how plants are used in various cultures,” said Cristian Samper, Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. “As a former student of Dr. Schultes, I am gratified that the Smithsonian is honoring his legacy with this tribute to his extraordinary life.”

The exhibition is based on the biographical essay “The Lost Amazon: The Photographic Journey of Richard Evans Schultes” written and produced by ethnobotanist Wade Davis and founder and director of the Govinda Gallery in Washington, D.C., Chris Murray. Thirty-eight black-and-white photographs by Schultes are on view, as well as his Rolleiflex camera, several herbarium specimens from the museum’s collection that he collected and personal items from the Schultes family. The exhibition highlights Schultes’ journey through the Amazon that led him to become the world’s botanical authority on natural rubber and medicinal, toxic and hallucinogenic plants. His photographs evoke a lost era when the tropical rainforests stood immense, and the peoples of the forest relied on plants not only for sustenance, but also for their medicinal and spiritual needs. -- www.mnh.si.edu