James Townsend Mackay (1775–1862) 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 ...

who lived in Ireland.

Life

He was born in

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest s ...

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, about 1775. After being educated at the parish school he was trained as a gardener, and having filled several posts in Scotland went to Ireland in 1803. He visited the west of the island in 1804 and 1805, and as a result published a 'Catalogue of the Rarer Plants of Ireland' in the ''Transactions'' of the

Royal Dublin Society The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) () is an Irish philanthropic organisation and members club which was founded as the 'Dublin Society' on 25 June 1731 with the aim to see Ireland thrive culturally and economically. It was long active as a learned ...

for the following year. This catalogue he enlarged into the 'Catalogue of the Indigenous Plants of Ireland,' published in 1825 in the ''Transactions'' of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

, which was again the basis of his ''Flora Hibernica,'' published in 1836, the cryptogamic portion of which was by Drs. Harvey and Taylor. The governors of

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

, having determined to establish a botanical garden, Mackay was recommended to them as a curator, and he held the post from 1806 until his death. Soon after his appointment he was elected an associate of the

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

, and in 1850 the university of Dublin bestowed upon him the degree of LL.D. He was attacked by paralysis about 1860, and died of bronchitis in Dublin 25 February 1862. Mackay discovered several species of plants new to the British Isles, and contributed largely to Sir J. E. Smith's ''English Botany'' (1790–1814). His herbarium is preserved at Trinity College Dublin. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to perpetuate his name, which is now borne by a genus of seaweeds, ''Mackaya'', so named by Dr. Harvey, and by a species of heather, ''Erica mackayana''.

Works

*''Flora Hibernica: comprising the Flowering plants, Ferns, Caraceae, Musci, Hepaticae, Lichenes and Algae of Ireland''.(William Curry Jun and Company, Dublin, 1836)

Full text.

References

;Attribution

Sources

*University of Dublin; History, with Biographical Notices. William B. S. Taylor. London, 1845.

External links

History of College Botanic Gardens
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mackay, James Townsend 19th-century Irish botanists People associated with Trinity College Dublin 1775 births 1862 deaths Scottish emigrants to Ireland People from Kirkcaldy