George Don(29 April 1798 – 25 February 1856) was a Scottish botanist and plant collector.
George Don | |
|---|---|
| Born | 29 April 1798 |
| Died | 25 February 1856(aged 57) Kensington,London, England |
| Known for | A General System of Gardening and Botany |
| Parent(s) | Caroline Clementina Stuart and George Don |
| Relatives | David Don(brother) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany |
| Institutions | Royal Horticultural Society |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | G.Don |
Life and career
editGeorge Don was born at Doo Hillock,Forfar,Angus,Scotland on 29 April 1798 to Caroline Clementina Stuart and George Don (b.1756), principal gardener of theRoyal Botanic Garden Edinburghin 1802.[1]Don was the elder brother ofDavid Don,also a botanist. He became foreman of the gardens atChelseain 1816. In 1821, he was sent to Brazil, theWest IndiesandSierra Leoneto collect specimens for theRoyal Horticultural Society.[1]Most of his discoveries were published byJoseph Sabine,although Don published several new species from Sierra Leone.
Don's main work was his four volumeA General System of Gardening and Botany,published between 1832 and 1838 (often referred to as Gen. Hist., an abbreviation of the alternative title:A General History of the Dichlamydeous Plants). He revised the first supplement toLoudon'sEncyclopaedia of Plants,and provided aLinneanarrangement to Loudon'sHortus Britannicus.He also wrote a monograph on the genusAllium(1832) and a review ofCombretum.He died atKensington,London,on 25 February 1856.[1]He is buried in the parish churchyard in the centre of Forfar.
Legacy
editThe plant species authored by George Don include:
- Acacia cyclopsG.Don
Coastal Wattle - Acacia deltoideaG.Don
- Acacia holosericeaG.Don
Candelbra Wattle - Acacia pendulaA.Cunn. ex G.Don
Weeping Myall, Boree - Acacia podalyriifoliaG.Don
- Acacia rigensG.Don
Nealie - Catharanthus roseus(L.) G.Don
Pink Periwinkle - Daviesia physodesG.Don
- Hoya latifoliaG.Don
- Isotoma scapigera(R.Br.) G.Don
Long-scaped Isotome - Lagunaria patersonia(Andrews) G.Don
- Ludwigia hyssopifolia(G.Don) Exell
- Modiola caroliniana(L.) G.Don
- Physochlaina orientalis(M.Bieb.) G.Don
- Psittacanthus calyculatus(DC.) G.Don
- Sagina maritimaG.Don
- Sphenotoma squarrosum(R.Br.) G.Don
- Swainsona formosa(G.Don) Joy Thomps.
- Viola pedatifidaG.Don
Prairie violet
A plant genera authored by George Don isPhysochlainaG.Don[3]
He is also honoured in the genus of a plant,Donella,[4]which was published in Hist. Pl. Vol.11 o page 294 in 1891.[5]
The television gardenerMonty Donis, according to different sources, either George Don's four-times great-grandson or a great-nephew some generations removed.[6][7]
List of selected publications
edit- Don, George(1832)."A monograph of the genusAllium".Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History Society.6:1–102.
- — (1831).A general history of the dichlamydeous plants: comprising complete descriptions of the different orders...the whole arranged according to the natural system IV vols.London: J.G. and F. Rivington.[8]
- A general system of gardening and botany. Founded upon Miller's Gardener's dictionary, and arranged according to the natural system.1831–1838
- Biography of The Scottish Botanist George Don 1764–1814, His Life, Times, and Contemporaries, by Scottish Author Marilyn Reid,https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scottish-Botanist-George-Don-1764-1814/dp/1492192619
See also
editReferences
edit- ^abcMatthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004)."The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. ref:odnb/7792.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7792.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^International Plant Names Index.G.Don.
- ^"PhysochlainaG.Don | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science ".Plants of the World Online.Retrieved30 August2021.
- ^Burkhardt, Lotte (2018).Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen – Erweiterte Edition[Index of Eponymic Plant Names – Extended Edition](pdf)(in German). Berlin: Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin.doi:10.3372/epolist2018.ISBN978-3-946292-26-5.S2CID187926901.Retrieved1 January2021.
- ^"DonellaPierre ex Baill. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science ".Plants of the World Online.Retrieved17 May2021.
- ^Horton, Helena (15 June 2019)."Monty Don reveals his family's 170-year-old feud with the Royal Horticultural Society".The Daily Telegraph.
- ^Although the Telegraph article identifies Monty Don's "great-great-great-great grandfather George Don", a representative of the Royal Horticultural Society is quoted as saying "we [...] are delighted to work closely with Monty Don who is a descendent of another branch of the Don family tree, one that features many gardeners and botanists"; this implied less-direct relationship to George Don corroborates the following cited source- Presenter: Monty Don (29 November 2015). "The 19th Century". The Secret History of the British Garden. BBC Two.
- ^George DonA general history of the dichlamydeous plants: comprising complete descriptions of the different orders...the whole arranged according to the natural system IV (1831)atGoogle Books
Bibliography
edit- Hall, Norman (1978).Botanists of the Eucalypts.CSIRO,Melbourne.ISBN0-643-00271-5.