24 Early Botanical Explorers on the Pacific Coast 
The La Perouse Expedition 
In 1785 an expedition was sent out by the French Government, 
under the command of Jean-Frangois Galaup de La Perouse, 
who was noted for his prowess in war, his noble character and his 
efficiency in all he undertook. It was well equipped to continue 
and increase what had been learned from the voyage of Captain 
James Cookj and able scientists in geology, botany, geography 
and astronomy eagerly joined the expedition. During their stay 
at Monterey, in September, 1786, the gardener-botanist, Col- 
lignon, sent seeds of a lovely herbaceous plant to the Jardin des 
Plantes, where they were planted. This, the first plant from Cali¬ 
fornia to be grown in the Old World, proved to be the rose- 
colored Sand Verbena, common on the coast of California. It was 
named Abronia by Jussieu 4 and later Lamarck 5 named it Abronia 
umbellata. Collignon also sent a cone containing ripe seeds, and 
from them twelve trees were grown in the Jardin des Plantes. 
The pine was named Pinus calif ornica. Since the exact locality 
was uncertain and the trees were no longer living, what was prob¬ 
ably the Monterey Pine was later named from the collection of 
Thomas Coulter, Pinus radiata. La Perouse’s last letter was from 
Botany Bay. The exact fate of the expedition is unknown, but 
many years later relics were found on one of the small islands of 
the New Hebrides and were taken to Paris, where I unexpectedly 
ran across them in the Louvre in 1911 . fl 
An expedition sent out by the Spanish Government, under the 
command of Alejandro Malaspina, left Spain in July, 1789, on 
a voyage of discovery. 7 One of the objects was to find a passage 
