William Roxburgh

Engraving by Charles Turner Warren

William Roxburgh (born June 29, 1751 , † April 10, 1815 ) was a Scottish doctor and botanist . Its official botanical author abbreviation is “ Roxb. "

Early life

William Roxburgh was born at Underwood in the parish of Craigie , Ayrshire . He studied medicine in Edinburgh and at the age of 17 became a ship's doctor on an East India Company ship . In this position he made two trips to the East up to the age of 21. He also studied botany under John Hope (1725–1786) in Edinburgh. After he entered the service of the Madras Medical Service in 1776 as assistant ship's doctor , he rose to the position of ship's doctor there in 1780.

Career

After taking up a position in Madras , he turned his attention to botany . The East India Company recognized his botanical knowledge and made him an overseer in the Samalkot Garden in the Northern Circars (now Andhra Pradesh ) in 1781 . Here he conducted some agricultural botany experiments and hired local artists to draw the plants. In 1790 he already had 700 illustrations. He succeeded Patrick Russell (1726-1805) as a naturalist in the government of Madras. He quickly made a name for himself through his progress, so that the Bengali government soon invited him to become director of the Calcutta Botanical Gardens founded in 1787 by Colonel Robert Kyd . In 1793 he replaced Colonel Robert Kyd as overseer and in 1814 brought out a catalog of the garden under the name Hortus Bengalensis .

Aftermath

In 1820, William Carey posthumously edited and published Volume 1 of Dr. William Roxburgh's Flora Indica; or Descriptions of Indian Plants . Volume 2 followed four years later in collaboration with Dr. Nathaniel Wallich .

Honors

In 1791 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . According to Roxburgh, the plant genus Roxburghia is W. Jones ex Roxb. named from the Stemonaceae family.

swell

Noltie, HJ (1999) Indian botanical drawings 1793-1868. ISBN 1-872291-23-6

Individual evidence

^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed April 4, 2020 .
↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .

Web links

Commons : William Roxburgh - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Literature by and about William Roxburgh in the catalog of the Virtual Library of Biology (vifabio)
Author entry and list of the plant names described for William Roxburgh at the IPNI

personal data
SURNAME	Roxburgh, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Scottish physician and botanist
DATE OF BIRTH	June 29, 1751
PLACE OF BIRTH	Craigie , Ayrshire
DATE OF DEATH	April 10, 1815

[1] Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed April 4, 2020 .

[Burkhardt_2018-2] Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .