David Douglas

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David Douglas, about 1834

David Douglas (born June 25, 1799 in Scone near Perth in Scotland, † July 12, 1834 in Hawaii ) was a Scottish gardener , botanist and plant hunter . He brought many conifers in particular , but also ornamental plants and fruit varieties from North America to Europe. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Douglas ".

Life

At the age of eleven, David Douglas began an apprenticeship as a gardener under William Beatty, head gardener at Scone Palace. He became interested in botany and collecting plants at an early age and continued to educate himself.

In 1820 he got a job at the Botanical Gardens in Glasgow . At the same time, William Hooker (later director of the Kew Gardens research garden in London and father of the botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker ) took up his chair in botany in Glasgow. He noticed the eager young Douglas and together they roamed the Scottish highlands gathering material for Hooker's Flora scotica .

In 1823 Hooker recommended the twenty-four-year-old to the London Horticultural Society when they were looking for a collector for one of their expeditions. Douglas was looking forward to a trip to the Chinese Empire , the predominant collecting area, but political unrest made the trip impossible. To his disappointment, he was sent to the east coast of North America . On August 5, 1823, he arrived in New York to embark on a four-month journey across the continent. At Lake Erie he collected the seeds of speedwell, sun rose, goldenrod and asters. Bad luck haunted him; he was robbed, almost capsized in a violent storm, and on January 10, 1824, happily arrived back in London. Given the abundance of plant material collected, the Horticultural Society spoke of a great success. The American fruit varieties in particular became popular plants in English country gardens.

As early as July 1824, Douglas set out on another trip that was to take him to the unexplored American Northwest. Intermediate stops on Madeira , Rio de Janeiro and the Galápagos Islands proved to be productive. He made his first new discovery, Gaultheria shallon , at Cape Disappointment , of all places , then followed the Columbia River inland to Canada and made the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company his location for the next two years. He found the Oregon grape ( Mahonia aquifolium ) and the Douglas fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii ) named after him , the Oregon hawthorn , the currant ( Ribes sanguineum ), the lupine species Lupinus polyphyllus and Clarkia pulchella . The panther lily ( Lilium pardalinum ), the dog-tooth lily ( Erythronium grandiflorum ), the only North American peony species Paeonia brownii , several phlox species and the yellow pine came on further excursions (which he went on mainly because he missed the ship to England because of a knee injury) ( Pinus ponderosa ) in addition. He made contact with the Indians and was close to death several times.

After three years and 11,300 kilometers he returned to England on October 11, 1827, where he was enthusiastically received. However, after years of adventure and hardship, he struggled to reintegrate into society and so he left Portsmouth in 1829 to return to North America. He sent seeds of giant fir ( Abies grandis ) and purple fir ( Abies amabilis ) to England; he found the Monterey pine ( Pinus radiata ). In 1833 he reached Hawaii and climbed Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa . In July 1834 he fell into a pitfall containing a wild bull. The reason for this may have been the advanced myopia of Douglas at a young age. Locals found him speared and trampled. His loyal dog and companion was still sitting next to the pitfall.

Douglas' discoveries were of particular importance to forestry . While there are barely ten coniferous species native to Europe, more than 200 new species were added from America through Douglas alone . He also enriched the Victorian themed gardens enormously: the “American Garden” or the “Pinetum” were particularly popular.

Taxonomic honor

The genus Douglasia Lindl. from the primrose family (Primulaceae) is named after him. The Douglas fir and the botanical name of the Oregon hawthorn ( Craetaegus douglasii ) are also reminiscent of its discoverer.

Fonts

  • Observations on some species of the genera Tetrao and Ortyx, natives of North America with descriptions of four new species of the former, and two of the latter genus . 1828? doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.37945

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names . Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018. [1]
personal data
SURNAME Douglas, David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British gardener, botanist, plant hunter
DATE OF BIRTH June 25, 1799
PLACE OF BIRTH Scone (Perth and Kinross)
DATE OF DEATH July 12, 1834
Place of death Hawaii