186 
The Garden Magazine, May, 1923 
Captain Blighon the Bounty to Tahiti for the purpose of introduc¬ 
ing the Breadfruit to the West Indies. After the mutiny of the 
ship’s crew he was placed in an open boat with Bligh and others by 
the mutineers. This boat was successfully sailed 3,000 miles to 
Timor where Nelson died from exposure and hardship in 1789. 
Peter Good, another young gardener from Kew, who accom¬ 
panied Robert Brown, died of dysentery at Sydney in 1802. 
Good introduced from western Australia in 1802 the pleasing 
Acacia pulchella and the well known A. armata; also the first 
Chorizemas (C. ilicifolium and C. rhombeum), Banksialittoralis, 
B. coccinea, Hakea suaveolens, Dryandra formosa, D. floribunda, 
and six other species, all raised at Kew in 1803. 
Messrs Brown and Bauer returned safely to England without 
mishap in 1805; but Captain Flinders (portrait on page 267, 
January G. M.), in attempting to sail from Sydney to England 
in a twenty-nine-ton-boat, was forced to put into Mauritius 
(then French) for ship repairs and was imprisoned there for 
more than six years in consequence of war between France and 
England. He ultimately reached England but died of a broken 
heart in 1814, at the early age of 40 years. 
Archibald Menzies sent Banksia grandis, B. attenuata, and B. 
verticillata to Kew where they were growing in 1794, having been 
collected at King George’s Sound in 1791. In 1802, Banksia 
latifolia was introduced from New South Wales by Thomas Hoy 
and, in 1810, no fewer than 20 species of these remarkable plants 
were in cultivation in England—more than there are to-day! 
M ANY notable plants were introduced by the London nur¬ 
serymen, Lee and Kennedy, as early as 1790. Among 
them were two Grevilleas ( G. sericea and G. buxifolia ); and in 
1794, the first Boronia (B. pinnata). Other introductions of 
about the same date (1788-90) are accorded to Banks, as for 
example, Callistemon lanceolata and C. saligna, Hakea acicularis, 
Grevillea linearis, and the lovely Acacia pubescens. 
In 1793, Banks received the first Pimelea (P. linifolia). It is 
probable that the earlier of these were sent by Denis Considen, 
assistant-surgeon to the colony and a protege of Banks, who 
returned to England in 1792; some by David Burton, a gar¬ 
dener sent out by Banks in 1791 and accidentally killed in 1792; 
and others by Colonel Paterson who held a military appoint¬ 
ment in New South Wales previous to 1794. Colonel Paterson 
was afterward (1804-1810) Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania. 
He took a great interest in botany and is commemorated by the 
genus Patersonia the austral analogue of our northern Iris. A 
tree ( Lagunaria Patersonii ) much planted in Australia and else¬ 
where but endemic in Norfolk Island also bears his name. I 
think it more than likely that Paterson sent, or Considen took, 
the first plants of Araucaria excelsa from Norfolk Island to 
Banks who received them in 1793. 
It is interesting to note that Acacia pubes¬ 
cens was introduced as long ago as 1790, yet 
is still very rare in gardens. It was in fact 
the second species introduced, the first being 
A. verticillata in 1780 which was sent from 
Tasmania by David Nelson. The first 
Banksias introduced were B. ericifolia and 
B. integrijolia in 1788, from New South Wales 
by Thomas Watson. The two Banksias are 
mentioned by the elder Aiton in his famous 
“ Hortus Kewensis” published in 1789. The 
only other Australian plants mentioned in 
this work are Casuarina torulosa, introduced 
from New South Wales by Banks in 1772; C. 
stricta, from the same region by Lee and 
Kennedy in 1775; Nelson’s Acacia under the 
name of Mimosa verticillata; and Eucalyptus 
obliqua attributed to Tobias Furneaux in 
1774. Captain Furneaux commanded the 
Adventure in Captain Cook’s second voyage 
and called at Tasmania in February, 1773, the 
place being named Adventure Bay after the 
ship. As we have stated, the genus was 
founded on material collected at Adventure 
Bay by David Nelson in 1777 on Cook’s third 
voyage. If Aiton’s statement be true, then 
E. obliqua is not only the type of the genus 
but also the first species introduced, and this 
prior to the founding of the genus and the 
naming of this species from Nelson’s mater¬ 
ial by L’Heritier. 
In 1800, at the instance of Banks, George 
Caley arrived in New South Wales where he 
explored and collected until 1810. He intro¬ 
duced a number of plants including Acacia 
podalyriaefolia and Epacris purpurascens in 1803, the first of the 
genus to reach our gardens. The well-known Fern, Platycerium 
alcicorne, he sent home in 1808. Later, Caley became Curator of 
the Botanic Gardens, St. Vincent, West Indies, resigning at the 
end of 1822. He was the son of a Yorkshire horse-dealer and 
seems to have been somewhat uncouth in appearance and ec¬ 
centric in manner though of sterling honesty and loyal to the 
few friends he made. 
The garden merit of Australian plants was now generally 
recognised in Europe, and particularly in England. In 1803, 
Epacris longifolia and in 1804, E. microphylla and E. obtusifolia 
were introduced from New South Wales by Loddiges of Hack¬ 
ney near London. From these and Caley’s E. purpurascens, 
sprang an interesting group of greenhouse plants to-day, alas! 
but rarely seen. In 1823-5 and again in 1829, William Baxter, 
a gardener, collected round King George’s Sound and in South 
Australia for the Clapton Nursery, then owned by Messrs Makay, 
and made that nursery famous for New Holland plants. Among 
other plants he introduced Epacris impressa from South Australia. 
T HE greatest name in the history of plant exploration in 
Australia is that of Allan Cunningham, one of the greatest 
plant collectors of all times. Of Scotch descent, he was born at 
ELK’S HORN FERN (Platycerium grande) 
Discovered in 1820 by Allan Cunningham and introduced to the Glasgow Botanic Garden in 1829 by 
Charles Fraser, the first Colonial Botanist; shown above growing in the Botanic Gardens at Brisbane, 1921 
