Back in March, I wrote about Amsonia hubrichtii, the 2011 Perennial plant Association Plant of the Year. I also wrote about its fantastic fall color in October last year. Now I know how it was discovered, thanks to the Yardflower.com blog from Mississippi horticulturalist Gail Barton.

Amsonia hubrichtii was discovered in Arkansas in 1942 by the renowned malacologist (snail expert) Leslie Hubricht - he named 81 new kinds of land snails! His day job for much of his life was working for Remington on early computers but in 1942 he worked at the Missouri Botanical Gardens and after he brought back his amsonia from a snail hunting trip to Arkansas, it was his supervisor who confirmed that it was indeed a new species.

There's an interesting slant to the story which Gail Barton tells on her Yardflower.com blog – but rather than cut-and-paste it here I'll simply suggest you hop over and take a look.

It's great to find how these plants were discovered and in this case it's also surprising that a colorful plant that grows across two states (it also grows in Oklahoma) was discovered so recently.