AS you walk through
the forest on the North
Shore you will see many
native plants such as
Douglas Fir

( Psendotsuga menziesti),
Western Red Cedar
(Thuja plicata), Skunk
Cabbage (Lysichiton
americanus), Salai
(Ganltheria shallon),
Salmon Berry (Rubus
spectabilis) and
Flowering Current
(Ribes sanquineum).

It is interesting to note
th at one man was responsible
for collecting, naming und
introducing these plants to the
rest of the world. That man
was David Douglas, a self-
taught Scottish botanist who
worked in western North
America in the 1820s and
"30s. He was one of the most
ambitious and best known of
the early plant collectors.

Douglas was born near
Scone, Scotland in 1799, the
son of a stone mason. After
limited formal schooling he

Friday, November 8, 1996 — North Shore News — 17

NEWS photo Terry Peters

THE mighty Ocuglas Fir, like this one in Capilano Canyon, is named after David Douglas, a self-taught Scottish botanist who worked in
western North America in the 1820s and '20s. He arrived at Fort Vencouver in April of 1825 to exptere and collect specimens.

was apprenticed as a garden
boy to a local nursery. After
seven years he moved cn to
Valley Field, the estate of the
wealthy Robert Preston and
then wo years later joined the
staff of Glasgow Botanic
Gardens.

The director of the botanic
gardens wes William Hooker,
a farnous botanist, who
encouraged Douglas to
accompany him an local
plant-hunting expeditions. Ja
1823 Hooker recommended
Douglas co the Royal
Horticultural Society for a job
as a plant collector.

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David Douglas set sail for
eastern North America in
1823, charged with the
responsibility of collecting
new plants and seeds. His
journey took him from New
York up che Hudson River
and as far west as Niagara
Falls.

The trip was so successful
that he was recommended to
the Hudson Bay Company
and sent to the Pacific
Northwest. He arrived at Fort
Vancouver on the Columbia
River in April of 1825 and set
about to explore the vast

country and collect specimens.

Few of the explorers of the
period were plant collectors
and most botanists were not
the rugged types who enjoyed
the challenge of exploring
new areas. David Douglas
possessed both a detailed
knowledge of plants and the
inexhaustible energy of an
explorer.

Travelling on modern
highways, one would find it
taxing to do a 3,000 to 6,000
km (1,864 to 3,728 mile)
exploratory trip around the
mountainous regions of west-
ern North America.

Imagine the pace Douglas

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had to maintain, travelling by
canuz and pack horse, to com-
plete a 3,000 km expedition
in the summer of 1825 anda
6,000 km one in 1826. The
second trip took him across
much of Canada to Hudson
Bay where he sailed back to
England with his collection of
dried plants and seeds.

The new plant introduc-
tions from Douglas’ seeds
were so well received that they
more than covered the cost of
the expedition.

Well-known west coast
plants such as Trsilisum ova-
tum, Heuchera glabra

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Tous...

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(Alumroot), tarella trifoliata
(Foam Flower), Mahonia
aquifolium (Oregon Grape),
and Liupinus palyplyllus (the
mother of our modern garden
or Russell Jupines) were all

art of the collection.

By 1829 Douglas was back:
in the Pacific Northwest, once
again working for the Royal
Horticultural Society. The
next two years were spent in
Northern California and

See Botanist page 418

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