GEORGE DOWNTON. 



COLLECTOR IN CENTKAL AND SOUTH AMERICA AND THE 

 ISLANDS OF JUAN FERNANDEZ. 



18701873. 



GEORGE DOWNTON received part of his early training in Horti- 

 culture in the gardens of Wilton House, Salisbury, under 

 Mr. T. Challis, V.M.H., and afterwards in the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society's Gardens at Chiswick, where he distinguished 

 himself as a student, winning in 1870 both the Royal 

 Horticultural Society's and the Society of Arts' first prizes 

 for Floriculture and Fruit and Vegetable culture. 



In 1870 he was engaged as a plant- collector, and sent for 

 Orchids to Central America, whence he forwarded several 

 consignments to Chelsea ; he was subsequently instructed 

 to join Endres, plant-collecting on our behalf in Costa Rica. 



Downton succeeded in joining Endres, and brought to 

 England shortly afterwards the result of their joint enterprise, 

 principally Orchids, and a few plants (the bulk, unfortunately, 

 succumbed en route) of the long-desired and much-sought-for 

 Odontoglossum Warscewiczii (Miltonia Endresii). 



In October 1871 he started on a mission to Chili, to 

 collect a further supply of seed of Embothrium coccineum, 

 Tropaeolum azureum, T. tricolor, and other plants of horti- 

 cultural interest, and to introduce any new plants he might 

 be fortunate enough to discover. 



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