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James (Jacobus) J. Dickson (1738–1822) was a Scottish nurseryman, plant collector, 
botanist
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
and mycologist
Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their genetics, genetic and biochemistry, biochemical properties, their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and ethnomycology, their use to humans, including as a so ...
. Between 1785 and 1801 he published his ''Fasciculus plantarum cryptogamicarum Britanniae'', a four-volume work in which he published over 400 species of algae
Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...
and fungi that occur in the British Isles''Jacobi Dickson Fasciculus (-fasciculus quartus) plantarum Cryptogamicarum Britanniæ''. MS. notes. 4 fasc. pl. XII. Prostant venales apud auctorem; G. Nicol: Londini, 1785-1801. 4º. (2 copies in the British Library) He is also the author of ''Collection of Dried Plants, Named on the Authority of the Linnaean Herbarium and Other Original Collections''. The plant genus '' Dicksonia'' is named after him.
Life
He was born at Kirke House, Traquair,Peeblesshire
Peeblesshire ( gd, Siorrachd nam Pùballan), the County of Peebles or Tweeddale is a historic county of Scotland. Its county town is Peebles, and it borders Midlothian to the north, Selkirkshire to the east, Dumfriesshire to the south, and Lan ...
, of poor parents, and began life in the gardens of the Earl of Traquair
Earl of Traquair (pronounced "Tra-''quare''") was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1633 for John Stewart, 1st Earl of Traquair, John Stewart, Lord Stewart of Traquair.
The family seat was Traquair House.
Stewart had been c ...
. While still young he went to Jeffery's nursery-garden at Brompton, and in 1772 started in business for himself in Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
.
Dickson made several tours in the Scottish Highlands in search of plants between 1785 and 1791, that of 1789 being in company with Mungo Park, whose sister became his second wife.
Dickson in 1788 became one of the original members of the Linnean Society, and in 1804 was one of the eight original members and a vice-president of the Horticultural Society. He died at Broad Green, Croydon, Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, on 14 August 1822, his wife, a son, and two daughters surviving him. His portrait by Henry Perronet Briggs (1820) was lithographed.
Works
Sir Joseph Banks threw open his library to him, and he acquired a wide knowledge of botany, and especially of cryptogamic plants. He published: * between 1785 and 1801 four ''Fasciculi Plantarum Cryptogamicarum Britanniæ'', containing in all four hundred descriptions; * between 1789 and 1799, ''A Collection of Dried Plants, named on the authority of the Linnæan Herbarium'', in seventeen folio fascicles, each containing twenty-five species; * in 1795, a ''Catalogus Plantarum Cryptogamicarum Britanniæ''; * and between 1793 and 1802, his ''Hortus Siccus Britannicus'', in nineteen folio fascicles. He wrote memoirs in the 'Transactions of the Linnean Society. James Edward Smith wrote him an epitaph and Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle dedicated to him the genus ''Dicksonia'', among the tree-ferns.See also
* :Taxa named by James Dickson (botanist)References
External links
* http://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst3157.html Scottish botanists Scottish botanical writers Scottish horticulturists Scottish mycologists 1738 births 1822 deaths Nurserymen Plant collectors Scottish gardeners Fellows of the Linnean Society of London People from the Scottish Borders People from Perth, Scotland 18th-century British botanists 19th-century British botanists 18th-century Scottish businesspeople 19th-century Scottish businesspeople {{UK-botanist-stub