George Don (29 April 1798 – 25 February 1856) was a Scottish botanist and plant collector.

Life and career

George Don was born 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 Angus may refer to: *Angus, Scotland, a council area of Scotland, and formerly a province, sheriffdom, county and district of Scotland * Angus, Canada, a community in Essa, Ontario Animals * Angus cattle, various breeds of beef cattle Media * ...

, Scotland on 29 April 1798 to Caroline Clementina Stuart and George Don (b.1756), principal gardener of the

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies ...

in 1802. Don was the elder brother of

David Don David Don (21 December 1799 – 15 December 1841) was a Scottish botanist. Biography David Don was born on 21 December 1799 at Doo Hillock, Forfar, Angus, Scotland to Caroline Clementina Stuart, and her husband George Don of Forfar. His olde ...

, also a botanist. He became foreman of the gardens at Chelsea in 1816. In 1821, he was sent to Brazil, the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

and

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

to collect specimens for the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

. Most of his discoveries were published by

Joseph Sabine Joseph Sabine FRS ( ; 6 June 1770 – 24 January 1837) was an English lawyer, naturalist and writer on horticulture. Life and work Sabine was born into a prominent Anglo-Irish family in Tewin, Hertfordshire, the eldest son of Joseph Sabine. ...

, although Don published several new species from Sierra Leone. Don's main work was his four volume ''A General System of Gardening and Botany'', published between 1832 and 1838 (often referred to as Gen. Hist., an abbreviation of the alternative title: ''A General History of the Dichlamydeous Plants''). He revised the first supplement to Loudon's ''Encyclopaedia of Plants'', and provided a Linnean arrangement to Loudon's ''Hortus Britannicus''. He also wrote a monograph on the genus ''

Allium ''Allium'' is a large genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants with around 1000 accepted species, making ''Allium'' the largest genus in the family Amaryllidaceae and among the largest plant genera in the world. Many of the species are edible, ...

'' (1832) and a review of ''

Combretum ''Combretum'', the bushwillows or combretums, make up the type genus of the family Combretaceae. The genus comprises about 272 species of trees and shrubs, most of which are native to Tropics, tropical and southern Africa, about 5 to Madagascar ...

''. He died at

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, on 25 February 1856. He is buried in the parish churchyard in the centre of Forfar.

Legacy

The plant species authored by George Don include: * ''

Acacia cyclops ''Acacia cyclops'', commonly known as coastal wattle, cyclops wattle, one-eyed wattle, red-eyed wattle, redwreath acacia, western coastal wattle, rooikrans, rooikrans acacia, is a coastal shrub or small tree in the family Fabaceae. Native to A ...

'' G.Don
Coastal Wattle * '' Acacia deltoidea'' G.Don * ''

Acacia holosericea ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Australa ...

'' G.Don
Candelbra Wattle * ''

Acacia pendula ''Acacia pendula'', commonly known as the weeping myall, true myall, myall, silver-leaf boree, boree, and nilyah, is a species of wattle, which is native to Australia. The 1889 book ''The Useful Native Plants of Australia'' records that common ...

'' A.Cunn. ex G.Don
Weeping Myall, Boree * ''

Acacia podalyriifolia ''Acacia podalyriifolia'' is a perennial tree which is fast-growing and widely cultivated. It is native to Australia but is also naturalised in Malaysia, Africa, India and South America. Its uses include environmental management and it is also ...

'' G.Don * ''

Acacia rigens ''Acacia rigens'', commonly known as nealie, is an erect or spreading shrub or small tree that is endemic to Australia. Other common names include needle wattle, needlebush acacia, nealia and nilyah. Description Plants typically grows to a heig ...

'' G.Don
Nealie * ''

Catharanthus roseus ''Catharanthus roseus'', commonly known as bright eyes, Cape periwinkle, graveyard plant, Madagascar periwinkle, old maid, pink periwinkle, rose periwinkle, is a perennial species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae. It is native and en ...

'' ( L.) G.Don
Pink Periwinkle * '' Daviesia physodes'' G.Don * '' Hoya latifolia'' G.Don * ''

Isotoma scapigera ''Isotoma scapigera'', commonly known as long-scaped isotome, is a small herbaceous plant in the family ''Campanulaceae The family Campanulaceae (also bellflower family), of the order Asterales, contains nearly 2400 species in 84 genera of ...

'' ( R.Br.) G.Don
Long-scaped Isotome * ''

Lagunaria patersonia ''Lagunaria patersonia'' is a species of tree in the family Malvaceae. It is commonly known as the pyramid tree, Norfolk Island hibiscus, Queensland white oak, sally wood, or simply as white oak on Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is ...

'' (

Andrews Andrews may refer to: Places Australia *Andrews, Queensland *Andrews, South Australia United States *Andrews, Florida (disambiguation), various places *Andrews, Indiana *Andrews, Nebraska *Andrews, North Carolina *Andrews, Oregon *Andrews, South ...

) G.Don * '' Ludwigia hyssopifolia'' (G.Don) Exell * '' Modiola caroliniana'' ( L.) G.Don * ''

Physochlaina orientalis ''Physochlaina'' is a small genus of herbaceous perennial flowering plants belonging to the nightshade family, Solanaceae, found principally in the north-western provinces of China (and regions adjoining these in the Himalaya and Central Asia) al ...

'' (

M.Bieb. Baron Friedrich August Marschall von Bieberstein (30 July 1768 – 28 June 1826) was an early explorer of the flora and archeology of the southern portion of Imperial Russia, including the Caucasus and Novorossiya. He compiled the first comprehen ...

) G.Don * '' Psittacanthus calyculatus'' ( DC.) G.Don * '' Sagina maritima'' G.Don * '' Sphenotoma squarrosum'' ( R.Br.) G.Don * ''

Swainsona formosa ''Swainsona formosa'', commonly known as Sturt's desert pea or Sturt pea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is native to all continental states and the Northern Territory of Australia, with the exception of Victoria. It ...

'' (G.Don) Joy Thomps. * '' Viola pedatifida'' G.Don
Prairie violet A plant genera authored by George Don is ''

Physochlaina ''Physochlaina'' is a small genus of herbaceous perennial flowering plants belonging to the nightshade family, Solanaceae, found principally in the north-western provinces of China (and regions adjoining these in the Himalaya and Central Asia) al ...

'' G.Don He is also honoured in the genus of a plant, '' Donella'', which was published in Hist. Pl. Vol.11 o page 294 in 1891. The television gardener

Monty Don Montagu Denis Wyatt Don (born George Montagu Don; 8 July 1955) is an English horticulturist, broadcaster, and writer who is best known as the lead presenter of the BBC gardening television series '' Gardeners' World''. Born in Germany and rai ...

is, according to different sources, either George Don's four-times great-grandson or a great-nephew some generations removed.

List of selected publications

* * George Don
''A general system of gardening and botany. Founded upon Miller's Gardener's dictionary, and arranged according to the natural system''. 1831–1838
* Biography of The Scottish Botanist George Don 1764–1814, His Life, Times, and Contemporaries, by Scottish Author Marilyn Reid, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scottish-Botanist-George-Don-1764-1814/dp/1492192619

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Don, George Scottish gardeners Scottish horticulturists 1798 births 1856 deaths Scottish garden writers Scottish encyclopedists Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Botanical collectors active in Australia Scottish plant collectors People from Angus, Scotland 19th-century Scottish writers 19th-century Scottish male writers 19th-century Scottish botanists Scottish taxonomists

Life and career

Legacy

List of selected publications

See also

References

Bibliography