Simon Godfried Albert Doorenbos (7 October 1891, Barneveld – 1980) was a Dutch

horticulturist Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

best known for his work as Director of

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

Parks Department from 1927 until his retirement in 1957, with a brief interruption during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

when he was dismissed and evicted by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

for refusing to remove trees and shrubs to facilitate the construction of a

V1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb ( "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was ( hellhound). It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug ...

launch pad. Simon Godfried Albert Doorenbos was born in Barneveld, 7 october 1891, as the son of Fetje Sleeswijk Visser (aged 36) and Jan Doorenbos (aged 42), pastor.Birth certificate: Doorenbos started his career as a nursery representative in 1915, visiting the United Kingdom and United States. His long career was distinguished by the raising of a number of important

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s, including ''

Symphoricarpos ''Symphoricarpos'' is a small genus of about 15 species of deciduous shrubs in the family Caprifoliaceae. With the exception of the Chinese coralberry, '' S. sinensis'', which is indigenous to western China, all species are native to North and C ...

× doorenbosii'', ''

Betula utilis ''Betula utilis'', the Himalayan birch (''bhojpatra'', ''bhūrjá''), is a deciduous tree native to the Western Himalayas, growing at elevations up to . The Latin specific epithet ''utilis'' means "useful", and refers to the many uses of the dif ...

'' 'Doorenbos', and numerous

Dahlia ''Dahlia'' ( , ) is a genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants native to Mexico and Central America. Dahlias are members of the Asteraceae (synonym name: Compositae) family of dicotyledonous plants, its relatives include the sun ...

s. Perhaps his most famous achievement was the

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...

cultivar 'Den Haag', indeed it has been postulated that he was the first to think of crossing elms to obtain varieties resistant to Dutch elm disease. Doorenbos was also responsible for the introduction of the Himalayan Elm ''

Ulmus wallichiana ''Ulmus wallichiana'' Planch., the Himalayan elm, also known as the Kashmir elm and Bhutan elm, is a mountain tree ranging from central Nuristan in Afghanistan, through northern Pakistan and northern India to western Nepal at elevations of 800&n ...

'' to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, cuttings of which he obtained from the

Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum is a botanical research institution and free public park affiliated with Harvard University and located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale, Massachusetts, Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston. Established in 1872, it is the ...

in 1929; the species was later to play a major role in the Dutch elm breeding programme. In 1926, Doorenbos founded the 14 hectare Landengebied Arboretum in Zuiderpark, The Hague. The arboretum currently (2014) holds 695 plant species including exotic rarities such as the Japanese Horse Chestnut. Doorenbos was a founding member of the

International Dendrology Society International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

;www.dendrology.org
/ref> beyond the world of horticulture, he was also a keen

pigeon fancier Pigeon keeping or pigeon fancying is the art and science of breeding domestic pigeons. People have practiced pigeon keeping for at least 5,000 years and in almost every part of the world. In that time, humans have substantially altered the morpho ...

Eponymy

× doorenbosii'', ''

'' 'Doorenbos', ''

Iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (given name), a feminine given name, and a list of peopl ...

'' 'Gerrie Doorenbos', ''

Rosa Rosa or De Rosa may refer to: Plants and animals * ''Rosa'' (plant), the genus of roses * Rosa (sea otter), a sea otter that has become popular on the internet * Rosa (cow), a Spanish-born cow People * Rosa (given name) * Rosa (surname) * San ...

'' 'Anneke Doorenbos'.

References

1891 births 1980 deaths 20th-century Dutch botanists Botanists with author abbreviations 20th-century Dutch farmers Dutch horticulturists People from Barneveld Pigeon fanciers {{Netherlands-botanist-stub