David Douglas

David Douglas
Born	25 June 1799 (1799-06-25) Scone
Died	12 July 1834 (1834-07-13)
Nationality	Scottish
Fields	botany
Author abbreviation (botany)	Douglas

Coast Douglas-fir cone, from a tree grown from seed collected by David Douglas in 1826

David Douglas (25 June 1799 – 12 July 1834) was a Scottish botanist. He worked as a gardener, and explored the Scottish Highlands, North America, and Hawaii, where he died.

Early life

The son of a stonemason, he was born in the village of Scone north-east of Perth, Scotland. He attended Kinnoull School and upon leaving he found work as an apprentice gardener in the estate of the 3rd Earl of Mansfield at Scone Palace. He spent seven years at this position before leaving to attend college in Perth to learn more of the scientific and mathematical aspects of plant culture. After a further spell of working in Fife (during which time he had access to a library of botanical and zoological books) he moved to the Botanical Gardens of Glasgow and attended botany lectures at the University of Glasgow. The Professor of Botany was greatly impressed with him and took him on an expedition to the Highlands before recommending him to the Royal Horticultural Society of London.

Explorations

On behalf of Sir William Hooker of the Royal Botanic Institution of Glasgow, the resourceful and often intrepid Douglas undertook a plant-hunting expedition in the Pacific Northwest in 1824 that ranks among the great botanical explorations of a heroic generation. In the Spring of 1826, David Douglas was compelled to climb a peak (Mt. Brown, of the mythical pair Hooker and Brown) near Athabasca Pass to take in the view. In so doing, he became the first mountaineer in North America.^{[citation needed]} He introduced the Douglas-fir into cultivation in 1827. Other notable introductions include Sitka Spruce, Sugar Pine, Western White Pine, Ponderosa Pine, Lodgepole Pine, Monterey Pine, Grand Fir, Noble Fir and several other conifers that transformed the British landscape and timber industry, as well as numerous garden shrubs and herbs such as the Flowering currant, Salal, Lupin, Penstemon and California poppy. His success was well beyond expectations; in one of his letters to Hooker, he wrote "you will begin to think I manufacture pines at my pleasure". Altogether he introduced about 240 species of plants to Britain.

He first briefly visited Hawaii in 1830 on his way to the Pacific Northwest. He returned again in December 1833 intending to spend three months of winter there. He was only the second European to reach the summit of the Mauna Loa volcano.^[1] He died under mysterious circumstances while climbing Mauna Kea in Hawaiʻi at the age of 35 in 1834. He apparently fell into a pit trap and was possibly crushed by a bull that fell into the same trap. He was last seen at the hut of Englishman Edward "Ned" Gurney, a bullock hunter and escaped convict. Gurney was also suspected in Douglas's death, as Douglas may have been carrying gold in a money purse. Douglas was buried in an unmarked common grave near Mission House in Honolulu, Hawaii.^[2] Later, in 1856, a marker was erected on an outside wall at Kawaiahaʻo Church. A monument was built at the spot where Douglas died. It is called Ka lua kauka ("Doctor's Pit" in the Hawaiian language), off Mānā Road on the Island of Hawaiʻi. A small stand of Douglas-fir trees have been planted here.^[3]

Legacy

Although the common name Douglas-fir refers to him, the tree's scientific name, Pseudotsuga menziesii, honors a rival botanist, Archibald Menzies. Several Hawaiian plants were named after him in earlier taxonomies, such as Pandanus tectorius known in Hawaiian as hala, sometimes given the name Pandanus douglasii.^[3] There is a memorial to David Douglas in his birthplace of Scone. David Douglas High School in Portland, Oregon is named after him.

Writings

• Douglas, David (1914). Journal kept by David Douglas during his travels in North America 1823-1827 : together with a particular description of thirty-three species of American oaks and eighteen species of Pinus, with appendices containing a list of the plants introduced by Douglas and an account of his death in 1834. W. Wesley & Son under the direction of the Royal Horticultural Society. Available online through the Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collection

References

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Who Killed David Douglas?
• The David Douglas Botanical Garden Society - Prince George BC Canada
• Family History