Alexander Morrison (15 March 1849 – 7 December 1913) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

botanist and Western Australia's first Government

Botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

in the Bureau of Agriculture. After emigrating to Australia in 1877, he proceeded to make a significant contribution to the study of the native flora, chiefly in Victoria and Western Australia. Morrison was born in Wester Dalmeny,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

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, the 8th of 10 children to Thomas Morrison (1809–1867) and Ann Peggie (1815–1867). He began a medical degree at Edinburgh, but suffered from ill health, prompting him to break his studies and visit Australia. He spent two years in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

before returning to Edinburgh to complete his degree. It was thought that he then undertook post-graduate studies at

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and

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; however, there is no evidence he was ever at Glasgow, and the Medical Directory implies that he was educated at Edinburgh alone. He returned to Australia in 1877 as medical officer on the SS Hastings, a migrant ship. He practiced medicine in Melbourne for 15 years, but again ill health prompted him to travel. He visited the

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and spend some time living in the

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium () and named after the Hebrides in Scotland, was the colonial name for the island group in the South Pacific Ocean that is now Vanuatu. Native people had inhabited the islands for three th ...

, where he collected plants for

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victoria, Australia ...

. After returning to Australia, he was appointed the first Government Botanist of Western Australia, in the Bureau of Agriculture, holding the position from 1897 to 1906. He produced few papers during this time, but these were considered high quality work. Plant taxa published by him include '' Acacia densiflora'', '' Acacia longispinea'', Angianthus acrohyalinus (Hook-leaf Angianthus), Calandrinia creethae, Calandrinia schistorhiza, '' Drosera bulbigena'' (Midget Sundew), '' Drosera occidentalis'' (Western Sundew), and Indigofera boviperda. He also collected numerous specimens, including type specimens, of ''

Eucalyptus ebbanoensis ''Eucalyptus ebbanoensis'', commonly known as the sandplain mallee, is a species of Mallee (habit), mallee that is endemic to Western Australia. It has smooth greyish bark, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three, whit ...

'' and '' Eucalyptus platycorys''. Morrison was retrenched from this position in 1906, thereupon returning to medical practice. In 1912 he was appointed assistant botanist to Alfred Ewart at the

National Herbarium of Victoria The National Herbarium of Victoria (Index Herbariorum code: MEL) is one of Australia's earliest herbaria and the oldest scientific institution in Victoria. Its 1.56 million specimens of preserved plants, fungi and algae—collectively known ...

(MEL). He died at

Cheltenham, Victoria Cheltenham is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 18 km south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the Cities of City of Bayside, Bayside and City o ...

, the following year. He bequeathed his

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

, his library to the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

, and the remainder of his estate to the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

. In mid-2023, the National Herbarium of Victoria was contacted by the Herbarium Registrar of Edinburgh Herbarium (E) with an offer of a considerable number of Morrison's duplicate specimens. The donation was gratefully accepted, and in April 2024, the National Herbarium of Victoria acquired approximately 650 Morrison specimens, collected in Victoria between 1871 and 1897. Along with the

, specimens collected by Morrison are also held by the

Plantentuin Meise Meise Botanic Garden (; ), until 2014 called the National Botanic Garden of Belgium (; ), is a botanical garden located in the grounds of Bouchout Castle in Meise, Flemish Brabant, just north of Brussels. It is one of the world's largest botan ...

in Belgium, and the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

herbarium.

Alexander Morrison National Park Alexander Morrison National Park is a national park in Western Australia, located north of Perth in the Shire of Coorow along the Green Head-Coorow Road. It was named for Alexander Morrison, the first Government Botanist of Western Australia. ...

, north of Perth in Western Australia, is named in his honour.

References

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Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morrison, Alexander 1849 births 1913 deaths Botanists active in Australia Botany in Western Australia Scientists from Western Australia 19th-century Scottish botanists 20th-century Scottish botanists Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People from West Lothian Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia Colony of Western Australia people