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Sunday, November 30, 2014

Plants on the Move: Wrap Up

Learn about ancient American gardening practices, the Linnaeus apostles who traveled the world collecting botanical specimens, and the movement of plants around the globe.

Ships transported seeds, dried plants, and live seedlings all over the world

Getting Started

Plants have always been on the move, whether hitching a ride on fur, feathers, water or air; or being transported by humans for trade, commerce, or sustenance.
My Example
Garden History – Plants on the Move

Linnaeus Apostles

The Linnaeus Apostles traveled the world in the 1700s, collecting botanical specimens, and categorizing and naming them using the binomial system.
My Example
The Linnaeus Apostles
Linnaeus Apostle: Pehr Lofling
Linnaeus Apostle: Pehr Kalm
Linnaeus Apostle: Carl Peter Thunberg
Linnaeus Apostle: Daniel Solander
Linnaeus Apostles: Search for Dyes (Mar 2019)

Interesting History

Botanical discoveries in the Americas had a world-wide influence, and we can still learn from them.
My Example
Garden History – The Americas
Early Botanical Gardens in the Americas
Terrace Farming in the Americas
Soil Building in the Americas
Sir Joseph Banks
Transporting Plants

Herbs and Spices

Herbs and spices originate from all over the world, and have influenced and benefitted the cooking of many cultures.
My Example
2017: Curry  Saffron  Turmeric
2016: Parsley  Rosemary  Sage
2015: Anise  Hops  Wormwood
2014: Bay Leaves  Red Peppers  Mustard
2013: Cardamom  Poppy Seeds  Sugar Cane
2012: Allspice  Cloves  Ginger
2011: Cacao  Cinnamon  Nutmeg Vanilla

Books and Movies

Learn more about the plants discovered all over the world, and watch films that depict an era of exploration and discovery.
My Example
The Story of Gardening
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
The Lore of Spices
Captain James Cook (Jan 2015)
Captain Cook: Obsession and Discovery (Jan 2015)
Mutiny on the Bounty (Jan 2015)

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Thankful For

Scrounging through an old scrapbook I made in childhood, I came across Thanksgiving pictures from a family dinner. Living in Alaska, we were far from our extended family, so often celebrated Thanksgiving dinner with our good friends, Tom and Helen Laurent, and their three boys, Tom Jr., Creighton, and Jim. We did travel to Southern California in November a few times, so did celebrate with extended family then. In this snapshot, it looks like our nuclear family celebrated alone.

Thanksgiving dinner with my brother, sister, and mom. Dad is taking the picture.
That year I put together an exhibit of things “I Am Thankful For”. It’s hard to see the details in this old snapshot, but it looks like they include a home (the Lego structure), my family, friends, food, transportation (car and boat), and the land. Many years have passed, but that list still pretty much sums it up for me today.

I am thankful for ...
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. I'll be thinking about my  family in Alaska, and scattered up and down the West Coast and beyond. Don't forget to thank God for your blessings (even those that don't seem like it yet)!

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Expeditions of Daniel Solander

Daniel Solander made two major expeditions, as a botanist and collector, with his friend and colleague, Sir Joseph Banks. This made Solander the greatest traveler of all of Linnaeus’s apostles.

Journies of Daniel Solander – South Seas, Iceland, and Brittain

Around the World (August 25, 1768 – July 12, 1771)

In 1768 Daniel Solander, Joseph Banks, and Bank’s staff of artists, scientists, and botanists joined Captain James Cook’s first expedition aboard the H.M.S Endeavour. Cook’s mission was to travel to the South Seas to view an astronomical event – the transit of Venus across the sun. After that, they were to receive orders for the rest of the expedition. The voyage lasted three years, and included visits to Madeira, Brazil, Argentina, French Polynesia, New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Java, South Africa and St. Helena.

Solander did not keep a journal, but you can get a feel of the expedition by reading the journal written by artist Sydney Parkinson (1745-1771). He describes through words and art, the expedition and the scientific team assembled by Banks. On the journey they collected 30,300 plants, from 3,607 species and 110 plant families. They identified 1,400 new species. They also collected samples of birds, fish, mollusks, and shells. Many of these came from Botanist Bay in Australia (later renamed to Botany Bay).

Solandra maxima – photo by Forest Starr and Kim Starr

 

Back in England

Upon return to England in 1771, Solander resumed his post at the British Museum, and became Banks’s secretary and librarian. Solander was presented to King George, and received an honorary Doctorate from Oxford University (he had never finished his degree at Uppsala University). There was talk of Banks and Solander joining Cook's second expedition, but it fell through. From 1772 – 1773, Banks and Solander made several smaller scientific expeditions. Carl Linnaeus and others in the scientific community were dismayed that Solander made these other expeditions before publishing his findings from the first.

  • Scotland and Iceland (July 12, 1772 – November 20, 1772) – returned with Icelandic plant species, and lava specimens from Mount Kekla.
  • Wales (1773) – collected native plant species

In 1773, Solander was appointed keeper of natural history at the British Museum. He lived with Banks in London amidst the collections in his care, and died on 13 May 1782, of a stroke. Although Linnaeus expressed disappointment in choices that Solander made, it was Solander that cared for Linnaeus’s son in England during an illness. Linnaeus and others expressed disappointment that Solander did not publish more, but, perhaps with his outgoing personality, he favored a more balanced life. I appreciate Bank’s tribute in a letter (from an annotated article by Roy Rauschenberg):
Solander’s mode of living in England you know as well as I. During the brightest part of the day he honored botany; but his proclivity for companionship never allowed him to return to the museum at night. Even if he had sought that action his countless friends would not have allowed it.

Banks goes on to praise Solander’s abilities for description:
He possessed an unusual charming ability to describe the curiosities in the British Museum with taste; so that men as well as ladies attended in those hours when they knew that Solander was responsible for showing the collection. Indeed his tour was so stimulating and pleasing, he was not only sought by learned men, but the King (George III) himself had the graciousness to honor him with his private discussion.


Learn More:

  • Journal of artist Sydney Parkinson describing the trip – A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas, in His Majesty's Ship, The Endeavour. Faithfully transcribed from the Papers of the late Sydney Parkinson, Draughtsman to Joseph Banks, Esq. on his late Expedition with Dr. Solander, round the World: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Journal_of_a_Voyage_to_the_South_Seas,_in_His_Majesty%27s_Ship,_the_Endeavour.
  • Plants discovered by Banks, Solander and the scientific team Illustrations of the Botany of Captain Cook's Voyage Round the World in H.M.S. Endeavour in 1768-71, edited by James Britten and published by the British Museum (London, 1905): http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/38665#page/1/mode/1up (see Plate 46 for Pleiogynium Solandri).
  • Letter from Sir Joseph Banks, describing his friend and colleague annotated in an article by Roy RauschenbergA Letter of Sir Joseph Banks Describing the Life of Daniel Solander, Isis, Volume 55, Number 1, March, 1964, p. 66:  http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/227755 (read online version for free, but requires a logon account).

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Daniel Solander in England

Daniel Solander arrived in London in June 1760s with letters of recommendation from Carl Linnaeus to John Ellis and Peter Collinson, two leading naturalists of the day. Ellis (1710-1776) was a linen merchant, who also specialized in the study of corals, and imported seeds from America. Collinson (1694-1768) was a plantsman and botanist who imported seeds from America via John Bertram. Solander established himself in London, and set out to learn English. He made two botanical journeys in the south of England:
  • December 20, 1760 - early February 1761
  • Midsummer 1761 - August 10, 1761
When he was not in the field, Solander enjoyed London society. He was gregarious and well liked. In 1761, Solander received news that Linnaeus's daughter married a young officer (the accounts vary - in some, Solander’s affections waned, in others, she married and Solander was so heartbroken that he became a bachelor). Also in 1761, Solander was offered the chair of botany at the Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg. On the advice of Collinson and other colleagues, Solander turned down the position, and informed Linnaeus he intended to stay in England. Linnaeus was disappointed that Solander would not succeed him at the University of Uppsala.

Solander box - photo by Marie Brannon
 
From 1761 to 1762 Solander classified and organized material from his journeys in London and southern England. He was assisted by John Ellis. In 1763, driven by the need for a more secure income, Solander accepted a position arranged by Collinson as an assistant librarian at the British Museum. Solander’s task was to catalog the natural history collection. In this position, Solander promoted the Linnaean system of classification, and helped pioneer museum curation (possibly more so than had he accepted the position at University of Uppsala). He developed a storage method for specimens, called the Solander box.

In 1764, Solander became a fellow of the Royal Society. In 1765, he worked on a descriptive catalog for the private museum of the Duchess of Portland. During this time, Solander met Joseph Banks, who traveled in the same circles, both professionally and socially. In 1768, Banks invited Solander to join the team of scientists, botanists, and artists he was assembling to join Captain James Cook’s expedition. Solander accepted the position, and took a leave of absence from the British Museum.

Learn More:

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Linnaeus Apostle: Daniel Solander

Daniel C. Solander (1733 - 1782) was a Linnaeus apostle who moved from his homeland in Sweden to England, and circumnavigated the world as a botanist with Captain James Cook. Solander was born February 19, 1733 in Piteå, Gammelstad, Norrbotten, Sweden to his father, Vicar Carl Solander, and mother, Magdalena Bostadia. As a boy he attended Piteå trivial school.

In July 1750, at the age of 17, Solander enrolled in Uppsala University, and boarded with his wealthy uncle. He studied language and humanities for two years, and then switched to natural history. Solander continued his studies, and worked with Carl Linnaeus on several projects. Some were botanical, such as making trips to Lapland to collect plants, and editing papers and manuscripts. Other projects had to do with organizing and classifying collections:
  • Summer 1752 – Solander and Linnaeus helped organize Queen Lovisa Ulrika's Cabinet of Natural History at Drottningholm's Castle.
  • Christmas 1752 – they organized Carl Gustav Tessin's Cabinet of Natural History in Stockholm.
  • Summer 1753 – they classified and organized the collections at the Royal Castle at Ulriksdal.

Daniel C. Solander in later years from a portrait by William Parry (public domain).
 
This was a great training ground for implementing the Linnaeus method of classification. These experiences may have also revealed natural interests and abilities in Solander. During his student years at University, Solander built a significant private library, herbarium, and cabinet of natural history. Linnaeus saw great potential in Solander. He promised Solander his daughter in marriage, and eventually his position at Uppsala University. In 1789, Linnaeus arranged for Solander to travel to England on scholarship to collect plant specimens and further his education.

Learn more:

  • The Linnaean Society of London – provides a comprehensive online collection of information, correspondence, specimens, art, and documents: http://www.linnean-online.org/
  • Linnaeus The Compleat Naturalist, by Wilfrid Blunt. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford (2004). Chapter 6, “The Apostles,” pages 193 – 194.