In the 1890s, the U.S. hired a team of globe-trotting plant hunters

“These Columbuses of the plant world know the remote places of the sphere as few real explorers can. Ultimately, “Uncle Sam’s Plant Hunters” would be responsible for the introduction of some 400,000 cultivars, including quinoa and soybeans, mangoes, and Meyer lemons. The first USDA Plant Introduction Garden sat on a small plot of land in what is now downtown Miami. Shifting attitudes towards non-native plantsRunning between one of the country’s most sensitive ecosystems and the wild-eyed experimentation of America’s globe-trotting plant hunters, that permeable barrier now belongs thoroughly to another era. In That Time When, Popular Science tells the weirdest, surprising, and little-known stories that shaped science, engineering, and innovation.