This Journal is the account of David Douglas, a Scottish plant explorer in our region during the 1820s and 1830s.\u00a0 Douglas was famous for introducing several conifers to Europe; however he described all the shrubby and herbaceous species he observed, too.<\/p>\n
This transcription was not published until 1914 by the Royal Horticultural Society.\u00a0 Why the delay?\u00a0 The secretary of the RHS, W. Wilks, states in the preface that the original was very difficult to decipher as the handwriting was \u201coccasionally almost if not quite impossible\u201d to read.<\/p>\n
Reading the results of this effort, I found that he writing style by Douglas is not romantic, but is mostly an accounting of the weather (often in dour terms), his meals (often meager), and the course of his travels.\u00a0 Animals described are mostly ones he killed.\u00a0 An exception being mosquitoes with which he was \u201cdreadfully annoyed.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 More interesting are his encounters with indigenous people who sometimes helped him with his exploration, but the real focus was on the plants he found and described.<\/p>\n
While most famous for conifers, most of the plants he described are herbaceous species, typically in brief terms, although he sometimes notes the potential ornamental value for gardeners.\u00a0 This compilation includes other, more formal manuscripts by Douglas.\u00a0 One gives his impressions of American pines.\u00a0 This included trees now considered to be spruce (Picea<\/em> sp.), true firs (Abies<\/em> sp.), and his eponymous Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii<\/em>).<\/p>\n Although never lyrical, Douglas comes close as he describes the ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa<\/em>) as \u201chighly ornamental\u201d and that \u201cit never grows in nor composes thick forests like the Abies section, but is found on declivities of low hills and undulating grounds in unproductive sandy soils in clumps, belts, or forming open woods, and in low, fertile, moist soils totally disappears.\u201d<\/p>\n Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on February 24, 2025<\/p>\n Excerpted in part from the Spring 2025 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This Journal is the account of David Douglas, a Scottish plant explorer in our region during the 1820s and 1830s.\u00a0 Douglas was famous for introducing several conifers to Europe; however he described all the shrubby and herbaceous species he observed, too. This transcription was not published until 1914 by the Royal Horticultural Society.\u00a0 Why the delay?\u00a0 The secretary of the RHS, W. Wilks, states in the preface that the original was very difficult to decipher as the handwriting was \u201coccasionally…<\/p>\n