George Forrest

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George Forrest (born March 13, 1873 in Falkirk , Scotland , † January 5, 1932 in Tengyueh , Yunnan , China ) was a Scottish botanist and plant collector . Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Forrest ".

Live and act

Forrest initially worked in a pharmacy in Kilmarnock . As soon as he saved enough money, he traveled to Australia to visit relatives. He returned to Scotland in 1902.

He began his botanical work at the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh . However, he was not a city dweller and longed to work outdoors. He was able to do his first botanical expedition for AK Bulley from Neston in Cheshire, the founder of "Bee Seeds". Bulley sent Forrest to China to collect plants. Many of the plants Forrest collected bear the specific epithet forrestii , which is an indication of the success of his travels.

Forrest undertook a total of five expeditions to China; he not only collected plants there, but also birds and butterflies. He also used his pharmaceutical knowledge in China and treated various diseases in local Chinese. Forrest himself became very ill in China and died in Tengyueh in southwestern Yunnan , near the border with Myanmar .

The plants he has collected and newly introduced in Europe include the fir species Abies georgei , maple species ( Acer ), Adenophera , asters , Dracocephalum , Hemerocallis , Iris , Primula , the rhododendron species Rhododendron forrestii and the Tibetan orchid species Pleione forrestii .

In 1927 the Royal Horticultural Society honored him with the golden Veitch Memorial Medal .

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