Flora Carolinæaensis by John L.E.W. Shecut, 1806

In 1806 the Charleston physician, author and botanist John Linnaeus Edward Whitridge Shecut (1770-1836) published Flora Carolinæensis, the most extensive work on the botany of South Carolina to date. Shecut was born in Beaufort, S.C. His father, Abraham Shecut, and his mother, Marie (Barbary) Shecut, were French Huguenots who were refugees first to Switzerland and later to America. As a botanist Shecut published a number of books and pamphlets. A man who dabbled in many subjects, Shecut also organized the Literary and Philosophical Society of South Carolina in 1813, its main purpose being the collection and preservation of natural history specimens. This plate depicts various “modes of influence”