Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
May 8, 1817
Primary Source Reference:
Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 84
Notes:
Lagetta lagetto is a species of tree native to several Caribbean islands. It is called the lacebark or gauze tree because the inner bark is structured as a fine netting that has been used for centuries to make clothing as well as utilitarian objects like rope.
Search for "Lagetta" for four other examples of lacebark.
Garrett Elliott Pendergrast (1776-1850) received a medical degree in 1803 from the University of Pennsylvania. He had been a surgeon in the Orleans Territory militia beginning in 1807. Appointed hospital surgeon in the U.S. Army in 1812, Pendergrast was serving under William Henry Harrison in 1813 when he received permission to travel to Philadelphia on private business. He resigned his commission in 1814. Prendergrast was the author of A Physical and Topographical Sketch of the Mississippi Territory, Lower Louisiana, and a Part of West Florida (Philadelphia, 1803).
Current Common Name:
Lacebark
Current Scientific Name
Lagetta lagetto
