Thomas Lobb (1817–1894) was a British botanist and, along with his older brother,

William Lobb William Lobb (1809 – 3 May 1864) was a British plant collector, employed by Veitch Nurseries of Exeter, who was responsible for introducing to commercial growers Britain ''Araucaria araucana'' (the monkey-puzzle tree) from Chile and the mass ...

, collected plants for the plant nursery Veitch. Lobb worked in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. In 1845 he discovered the first orchid species of the genus ''

Phalaenopsis ''Phalaenopsis'' (), also known as moth orchids, is a genus of about seventy species of plants in the family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus are monopodial epiphytes or lithophytes with long, coarse roots, short, leafy stems and long-lastin ...

'' growing in the eastern

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

, at an altitude of ~. This plant, '' Phalaenopsis lobbii'', is named in his honour as was ''

Dendrobium lobbii ''Dendrobium lobbii'', commonly known as the straggly rush orchid, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is Indigenous (ecology), native to an area extending from Indochina to northern Australia. It has thin, wiry stems with stiff leav ...

''.

Early life

He was born and raised in

Perranarworthal Perranarworthal () is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is about four miles (6.5 km) northwest of Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth and five miles (8 km) southwest of ...

and

Egloshayle Egloshayle (, meaning ''church on an estuary'') is a civil parish and village in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is beside the River Camel, southeast of Wadebridge. The civil parish stretches southeast from the village an ...

, near

Wadebridge Wadebridge (; ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town straddles the River Camel upstream from Padstow.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 200 ''Newquay & Bodmin'' The pe ...

where his father John worked as an estate carpenter at

Pencarrow Pencarrow is a Grade II*-listed country house in the civil parish of Egloshayle, in north Cornwall, England. It is situated three miles (5 km) east-southeast of Wadebridge and three miles (5 km) north-northwest of Bodmin. History Sir ...

and gamekeeper at

Carclew Carclew House, one of Britain's lost houses, was a large Palladian country house near Mylor in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It was situated at approximately three miles north of Falmouth. Carclew House was for some generations owne ...

estate, for Sir

Charles Lemon Sir Charles Lemon, 2nd Baronet (3 September 1784 – 13 February 1868) was a British Member of Parliament for several constituencies and a baronet. Early life He inherited his baronetcy in 1824 upon the death of his father Sir William Lemon, ...

. Both brothers, despite varying accounts (neither wrote an autobiography), worked in the stovehouse. Both brothers were encouraged in study of horticulture and botany. Thomas moved to join the Veitch family at

Killerton Killerton is an 18th-century house in Broadclyst, Exeter, Devon, England, which, with its hillside garden and estate, has been owned by the National Trust since 1944 and is open to the public. The National Trust displays the house as a comforta ...

in 1830, aged 13. The Veitch Nurseries moved to

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

in 1832 and Thomas suggested his brother William as the nursery's first plant hunter in 1840.

Plant collecting

Thomas' first collecting trip, inspired by the success of his brother

, was from 1843 to 1847, collecting in Java as well as visiting rainforests in Singapore, Penang and Malaysia. After a rest period working back at the Veitch Nurseries and after seeing William again for the first time since 1840, a second collecting trip took place from 25 December 1848 to 1853. This visited India, Sarawak, Philippines and Burma, India and Nepal. During this visit he briefly met up with 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 ...

who was on a collecting expedition in the

Khasi Hills The Khasi Hills () are a low mountain formation on the Shillong Plateau in the Meghalaya state of India. The Khasi Hills are part of the Garo-Khasi-Jaintia range and connect with the Purvanchal Range and the larger Patkai Range further east. The ...

. His brother William returned to America in 1854, finished working for Veitch in 1860 and died in San Francisco in 1864. Thomas Lobb returned to Java in 1854 to 1857, his third collecting trip. A leg injury occurred on his fourth and final collecting trip (1858 to 1860) visiting North Borneo, Burma, Sumatra and the Philippines. He retired to Cornwall in 1860 to live near family, having injured a leg, which was eventually amputated either in the Philippines or Cornwall. Thomas Lobb appears to have parted company with the Veitch nursery in 1860, possibly over compensation for his leg injury and amputation suffered collecting plants in the Philippines in 1860 (according to the Veitch Nursery history, ''

Hortus Veitchii James Herbert Veitch F.L.S., F.R.H.S. (1 May 1868 – 13 November 1907), was a member of the Veitch family who were distinguished horticulturists and nursery-men for over a century. Early days James was born at Chelsea, London, the elder son o ...

''). A later argument over a possible return to collecting in 1869 contributed to the death by heart attack of James Veitch junior.Sue Shephard (2003). Seeds of Fortune - A Gardening Dynasty. Bloomsbury. After this, Thomas Lobb remained in quiet secluded retirement in Stanley Villa,

Devoran Devoran () is a village in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is southwest of Truro at .Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 204 ''Truro & Falmouth'' Formerly an ecclesiastical parish, Devoran is now in the civil parish of Feock, ...

, Cornwall, busy with gardening and painting, whilst living off his money from his herbarium collections and letting several cottages he had built. He died in 1894 and is buried in Devoran churchyard, Cornwall where a small memorial garden and headstone can be found to himself and his brother William. A tiny new Lobb Brothers planthunters garden was dedicated for community use off Market Street in Devoran in 2017.

Other plant introductions

Plant introductions credited to Thomas Lobb (illustrated in ''The Plant Hunters'' by Toby and Will Musgrave and Chris Gardner) show the route of his travels. They were introduced to Britain via cultivation at the Veitch nursery include: ''

Phalaenopsis amabilis ''Phalaenopsis amabilis'', commonly known as the moon orchid, moth orchid, or mariposa orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae. It is widely cultivated as a decorative houseplant. It is an epiphytic or lithophyt ...

'' (1846), an epiphytic moth orchid from rainforests across Java, Philippines, New Guinea and Northern Australia; ''

Nepenthes sanguinea ''Nepenthes sanguinea'' (; from Latin ''sanguineus'' "blood red") is a large and vigorous ''Nepenthes'' pitcher plant species, native to Peninsular Malaysia and southernmost Thailand, where it grows at 300–1,800 metres (1,000 to 6,000 feet ...

'' (c.1847), a blood red marked climbing pitcher plant from cloud forest in Malaysia; ''

Nepenthes albomarginata ''Nepenthes albomarginata'' is a tropical pitcher plant native to Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia, and Sumatra. The specific epithet ''albomarginata'', formed from the Latin words ''albus'' (white) and ''marginatus'' (margin), refers to the white ...

'', a ''

Nepenthes ''Nepenthes'' ( ) is a genus of carnivorous plants, also known as tropical pitcher plants, or monkey cups, in the monotypic family Nepenthaceae. The genus includes about 170 species, and numerous natural and many cultivated hybrids. They are m ...

'' pitcher plant from Borneo; ''

Aerides rosea ''Aerides rosea'' is a species of epiphytic orchid. It is native to China (Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan), Assam, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a ...

'' (1850), a fox-brush orchid from India, Vietnam and China; ''

Aerides multiflora ''Aerides multiflora'', the multi-flowered aerides, is a species of orchid included in the subfamily Epidendroideae, native to Southeast Asia, the Coromandel Coast, and Bangladesh. Distribution and habitat It is found in Assam, Bangladesh, I ...

'', an orchid from India; ''

Vanda coerulea ''Vanda coerulea'', commonly known as blue orchid, blue vanda or autumn lady's tresses, is a species of orchid found in Northeast India with its range extending to China (southern Yunnan). It is known as ''kwaklei'' in Manipuri and ''vandaar'' ...

'' (c.1850) a blue epiphytic orchid from Burma, Thailand and India; ''

Vanda tricolor ''Vanda tricolor'' is a species of orchid occurring in Laos and from Java, Bali, Lombok and Sumbawa. It was imported to England by Thomas Lobb Thomas Lobb (1817–1894) was a British botanist and, along with his older brother, William Lobb, col ...

'' (c.1846) a pink-lipped, pale yellow brown patterned epiphytic orchid from Java; '' Rhododendron veitchianum'' (c. 1850), from Burma, Thailand and Indo-China. This is one of many

Rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

species he collected and introduced to Britain including '' Rhododendron malayanum'' (c.1850) with small pink flowers, '' Rhododendron brookeanum'' (c.1850) with yellow-gold flowers and ''

Rhododendron javanicum ''Rhododendron javanicum'' is a rhododendron species native to Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. This evergreen shrub grows to with bright orange flowers in spring. Plants may be terrestrial or epiphyte, epiphytic. Some forms from the Ph ...

'' (c.1850) with small pink flowers.

References

External links

Thomas Lobb, pp.41-43 in Hortus Veitchii (1906)A History of British Gardening (BBC) – William and Thomas LobbLobb's Cottage (BBC)The Lobb Brothers and their Famous Plants (Caradoc Doy)
* Image:Thomas_Lobb_botanist_headstone_Devoran_Church_Cornwall.jpg, Thomas Lobb's headstone, Devoran church, Cornwall Image:Thomas and William Lobb botanist memorial garden pictures Devoran church Cornwall 2009.jpg, Thomas and William Lobb's memorial garden planting near his headstone, Devoran church, Cornwall {{DEFAULTSORT:Lobb, Thomas 1817 births 1894 deaths People from Wadebridge English botanists Botanists active in India Botanists active in South Asia Botanists active in the Philippines Veitch Nurseries Plant collectors Explorers from Cornwall Burials in Cornwall