Travel Tales 
of a PI ant Coll ector 
E. H. WILSON 
Assistant Director of the Arnold Arboretum 
Author of “ Romance of Our Trees,” “Aristocrats of the Garden,” “A Naturalist in Western China,” 
IX. CHINA, THE KINGDOM OF FLOWERS 
Richest Temperate Flora of All the World and Its Close Kinship to North 
American Forests—Rhododendrons that Run in Belts of Color and Primroses 
which Touch Perpetual Snows—Chinese Jewels in Hardy Gardens of the West 
Copyright, D. P. & Co., 1923 
probab 
[OT the least important event in the history of horticul¬ 
ture and plant introduction was the founding of the 
Horticultural Society of London in 1804. During its 
long and honorable career this famous society has 
y done more toward developing every phase of horticul¬ 
ture than any other similar body in the whole world. Of neces¬ 
sity it has suffered vicissitudes of fortune, but it never was more 
influential than it is to-day. Familiarly known the world over 
as the “ R. H. S.” its work is esteemed by all who love plants in 
every land; and long may it flourish is the heart-whole sentiment 
of all gardeners of every race and creed! 
This society has sent collectors to many lands, and its work 
in China is memorable. We have seen (page 387, August G. M.) 
that many of the plants introduced by the agency of John 
Reeves went to this Society. In 1821, the first collector, John 
Potts, was sent to China and in 1823 another, John Damper 
Parks. Both collectors went to Canton and, aided by Reeves, 
brought home many fine plants, some new, others very rare in 
gardens. Among other things Potts introduced a very fine 
Peony which was named Paeonia albiflora var. Pottsii. Parks 
brought back twenty varieties of Chrysanthemum, 16 of which 
were new, the double, yellow-flowered Banksian Rose (R. Bank- 
siae var. lutea ) and a Tea Rose [R. odorata var. ochroleuca) with 
yellowish flowers. 
In 1843, Robert Fortune was despatched to China and a new 
era was inaugurated. The time was propitious, since four new 
treaty ports on the China coast had been 
opened to foreign trade and Hongkong 
ceded to the British in 1842. Fortune 
visited China four times(i843-45,1848-51, 
1853-56 and 1861). His first journey was 
for the Royal Horticultural Society, the 
next two for the East India Company to 
introduce the Tea industry into India, his 
fourth was his own private enterprise. All 
were successful, and gardens owe a great 
debt to this eminent plant collector. 1 ndia 
owes even a larger debt and it is not to 
the credit of the Tea industry that the 
labors, from which it has waxed so strong, 
should have gone unrequited and unrecog¬ 
nized. Monuments in India are mainly 
erected to men mighty in war, but of the 
wealth surely a little could be spared to 
erect a fitting memorial to the man who 
successfully laid the foundation of one of 
India’s greatest industries—Robert For¬ 
tune. 
Robert Fortune was Scotch, born in Ber¬ 
wickshire on September 16, 1812, and was 
educated in the parish school of Edrom. 
ROBERT FORTUNE (1813-1880) 
‘Gardens owe a great debt to this eminent 
plant collector” who made four trips to the 
East bringing back nearly 200 new plants 
He was apprenticed as a gardener and afterward entered the 
Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, under the elder McNab. In 1842 
he was appointed superintendent of the hothouse department of 
the Royal Horticultural Society at Chiswick and the next year 
was offered and accepted the post of plant collector in China at 
the magnificent salary of two hundred dollars per year all found. 
Fortune published four interesting books on his travels in China, 
and all who will may familiarize themselves with his wanderings. 
In those days travel beyond the limits of the treaty posts was 
exceedingly hazardous. Disguised as a Chinese, Fortune made 
one or two trips into the interior from Ningpo and won from the 
wilds such valuable plants as Clematis lanuginosa. Rhododendron 
Fortunei and Pseudotsuga amabilis, the Chinese Golden Larch. 
Perforce nearly every plant he introduced came from some 
Chinese garden, nursery, or temple ground. His industry was 
great, his judgment of the garden value of a plant infallible, and 
his ability to pack his collections so that they successfully with¬ 
stood the vicissitudes of the long voyage home round the Cape 
of Good Hope calls for the admiration of all who have tried this 
none too easy task. 
Among the garden plants introduced by Fortune were many 
varieties of Moutan Peonies, Chrysanthemums, Camellias, 
Peaches, Roses, Azaleas, and Clematis and such indispensable 
plants as Anemone japonica, Aconitum autumnale, Akebia qui- 
nata, Dicentra spectabilis, Skimmia Fortunei, Citrus japonica, 
Ilex cornuta, Indigofera decora, Wistaria sinensis var. alba, 
Prunus triloba plena, P. japonica albo- 
plena, Spiraea prunifolia plena, S. Reevesii, 
Exochordia grandifiora, Rosa Fortuniana, 
Saxifraga Fortunei, Deut{ia crenata plena, 
Viburnum tomentosum, V. macrocephalum, 
V. dilatatum, Syringa oblata, Lonicera 
Standishii, Diervilla rosea, Campanula 
punctata, Jasminum nudifiorum, Forsythia 
suspensa var. Fortunei, F. viridissima, 
Chionantlms retusus, Ligustrum sinense, 
Trachelospermum jasminoides, Torenia 
concolor, Cupressus funebris, Torreya 
grandis, Cephalotaxus Fortunei, Pinus Bun- 
geana, and Trachycarpus excelsa var. For¬ 
tunei. Their garden value is so generally 
known that comment is unnecessary. On 
his four visits, the last of which extended 
to Japan, Fortune introduced into English 
gardens for the first time about 190 species 
and varieties of plants of which more than 
120 were entirely newto botanists and hor¬ 
ticulturists, while the remainder up to that 
time had been known in Europe only from 
herbarium specimens. He died on the 
13th of April, 1880, at Brompton. 
35 
