David Don (21 December 1799 – 15 December 1841) was a Scottish

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 ...

Biography

David Don was born on 21 December 1799 at Doo Hillock,

Forfar Forfar (; , ) is the county town of Angus, Scotland, and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million-pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town had a population of 16,280. The town ...

Angus, Scotland Angus (; ) is one of the 32 Local government in Scotland, local government council areas of Scotland, and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Dundee City (council area), Dundee City and Per ...

to Caroline Clementina Stuart, and her husband George Don of

. His older brother was George Don, also a botanist. His father was a curator at the Royal Botanic Garden, Leith Walk,

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 ...

. Don was

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of Botany at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

from 1836 to 1841, and

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

at the

Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript a ...

from 1822 to 1841. He described several of the major

conifers Conifers () are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All e ...

discovered in the period, including first descriptions of coast redwood (''Taxodium sempervirens'' D. Don; now ''Sequoia sempervirens'' (D. Don) Endl.), Bristlecone Fir (''Pinus bracteata'' D. Don, now ''Abies bracteata'' (D. Don) A. Poit.), Grand Fir (''Pinus grandis'' Douglas ex D. Don; now ''Abies grandis'' (Douglas ex D. Don) Lindl.) and Coulter Pine (''Pinus coulteri'' D. Don), and was the first to treat

Sugi ''Cryptomeria'' (literally "hidden parts") is a monotypic genus of conifer in the cypress family Cupressaceae. It includes only one species, ''Cryptomeria japonica'' ( syn. ''Cupressus japonica'' L.f.). It is considered to be endemic to Japan ...

(''Cupressus japonica'' Thunb.; now ''Cryptomeria japonica'' ( Thunb.) D. Don) in a new

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

. He also named the

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

genus Pleione in 1825. Don was librarian to the botanist Aylmer Bourke Lambert and compiled for him, ''Prodromus florae nepalensis'' ... London, J. Gale, 1825, based on collections made by the botanists Francis Hamilton and Nathaniel Wallich of the Calcutta Botanic Garden. On 15 April 1837 in

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

he married Mary Evans (1788/9–1864). He died on 8 December 1841 from cancer, and is buried at

Kensal Green Kensal Green, also known as Kensal Rise, is an area in north-west London, and along with Kensal Town, it forms part of the northern section of North Kensington, London, North Kensington. It lies north of the canal in the London Borough of Brent ...

. In 1938, the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

marked Don at 32

Soho Square Soho Square is a garden square in Soho, London, hosting since 1954 a ''de facto'' public park leasehold estate, let by the Soho Square Garden Committee to Westminster City Council. It was originally called King Square after Charles II of Engla ...

with a rectangular stone plaque, commemorating him as well as botanists

Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English Natural history, naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the European and American voyages of scientific exploration, 1766 natural-history ...

and

Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...

and meetings of the Linnean Society.

List of selected publications

* '' Theophrastaceae''

References

Bibliography

External links

View digitized titles by David Don in ''Botanicus.org''Obituary of David Don
{{DEFAULTSORT:Don, David British dendrologists British pteridologists 1799 births 1841 deaths Botanists with author abbreviations Academics of King's College London 19th-century Scottish botanists People from Forfar

Biography

List of selected publications

See also

References

Bibliography

External links