Henry David Thoreau-a name instantly associated with acclaimed philosophical and literary works such as Walden, The Maine Woods, and On Civil Disobedience, among others. Yet how many botanists and plant ecologists realize that it was Thoreau who also coined the term “forest succession” in 1860 to describe the process of vegetation development in New England forests? Throughout his life, but particularly in his later years, Thoreau was an astute student of plant seed dispersal mechanisms, impacts of seed predators on plant regeneration, and the interplay of these two factors in forest succession. Moreover, he was an early advocate of Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection and strived to frame his observations and writings in plant ecology and natural history in light of emerging evolutionary thought. Thoreau was one of North America’s earliest plant ecologists with an evolutionary perspective.