Robert Fortune
Robert Fortune ( born September 16, 1812 in Town Blackadder, Berwickshire, † April 13, 1880 in Brompton, London) was a Scottish gardener and explorer. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Fortune".
Life and work
He collected a total of four trips to the Far East plants. The first trip was commissioned by the Royal Horticultural Society; he took the second and third trip on behalf of the British East India Company. His fourth journey he undertook on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which was also interested in tea plants from China.
Fortune led the tea plant in India. According to him, the plant genera Fortunearia and Fortunella are named. In addition to the tea plants Robert Fortune also spread the Chinese windmill palm ( Trachycarpus fortunei ), not only in England but also in the Himalayas, wherever today tea is grown ( Kumaon, Darjeeling, Assam ).
Ehrentaxa
In his honor, the plant genera were
- Fortunearia Rehd. & Wils. the family of the witch hazel family ( Hamamelidaceae )
- Fortunella Swingle of the rue family ( Rutaceae )
Named.
Works
- Three years wanderings in the northern provinces of China. 1847 German: Three -year-old walks in the Northern provinces of China. After the 2nd edition translated from English by Ernst August Wilhelm Himly, Cambridge University Press, Göttingen 1853.
- A Journey to the Tea Countries of China; Sung -lo and the Bohea Hills; with a Short Notice of the East India Company 's Tea Plantations in the Himalaya Mountains. John Murray, London, 1852.
- A Residence Among the Chinese; Inland, on the Coast and at Sea; being a Narrative of Scenes and Adventures During a Third Visit to China from 1853 to 1856, including Notices of Many Natural Productions and Works of Art, the Culture of Silk, & c. John Murray, London 1857.
- Yedo and Peking; A Narrative of a Journey to the Capitals of Japan and China, with Notices of the Natural Productions, Agriculture, Horticulture and Trade Of Those Countries and Other Things Met with By the Way. John Murray, London, 1863.