David Lyall (1817–1895) MD, RN, FLS, was a Scottish botanist who explored Antarctica, New Zealand, the Arctic and North America and was a lifelong friend of Sir

Joseph Hooker Joseph Hooker (November 13, 1814 – October 31, 1879) was an American Civil War general for the Union, chiefly remembered for his decisive defeat by Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. Hooker had serv ...

. He was born in Auchenblae, Kincardineshire, Scotland on 1 June 1817. He graduated in medicine from Aberdeen, having previously been admitted a Licentiate of the

Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) is a professional organisation of surgeons. The College has seven active faculties, covering a broad spectrum of surgical, dental, and other medical practices. Its main campus is located o ...

. Lyall entered the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

in 1839 and was immediately appointed, on 6 June, as assistant surgeon on , under Captain Francis Crozier (1796–1848), one of the two ships forming Sir

James Clark Ross Sir James Clark Ross (15 April 1800 – 3 April 1862) was a British Royal Navy officer and polar explorer known for his explorations of the Arctic, participating in two expeditions led by his uncle Sir John Ross, John Ross, and four led b ...

's Expedition to the

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and o ...

. The ships were the first to penetrate the Antarctic

pack ice Drift ice, also called brash ice, is sea ice that is not attached to the shoreline or any other fixed object (shoals, grounded icebergs, etc.).Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Unlike fast ice, which is "fastene ...

and to confirm the existence of the great southern continent. Hooker and Lyall made good use of their time botanizing on

Kerguelen Island The Kerguelen Islands ( or ; in French commonly ' but officially ', ), also known as the Desolation Islands (' in French), are a group of islands in the sub-Antarctic constituting one of the two exposed parts of the Kerguelen Plateau, a la ...

. Lyall had the rare distinction of having a whole genus, ''

Lyallia ''Lyallia kerguelensis'', commonly called the lyallia cushion (''coussin de lyallia'' in French), is a species of flowering cushion plant in the monotypic genus ''Lyallia'' of the family Montiaceae. It is sometimes placed in the Hectorellaceae ...

'', named after him, by Hooker. Hooker noted in his ''Flora Antarctica'':

Among his many important botanical discoveries in this survey was that of the monarch of all buttercups, the gigantic white-flowered Ranunculus lyallii, the only known species with peltate leaves, the 'water-lily' of the New Zealand shepherds.--Joseph Dalton Hooker (1895) 33 ''Journal of Botany'', p. 209.

References

Sources

Lyall, Andrew; "David Lyall (1817–1895): Botanical explorer of Antarctica, New Zealand, the Arctic and North America" (2010) 26:2 ''The Linnean'' pp. 23–48, Linnean Society of London (July 2010). {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyall, David 1817 births 1895 deaths Scottish botanists

See also

References

Sources