Hortus Kewensis

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Hortus Kewensis, or a Catalogue of the Plants Cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew by William Aiton [1] was a 1789 catalogue of all the plant species then in cultivation at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which constituted the vast majority of plant species in cultivation in all of England. [2] It included information on the country of origin, who introduced the plant into English cultivation, and when. It is therefore now one of the most important sources of information on history of horticulture in England. [3] Hortus Kewensis was published as a comparatively large edition of 1250 copies. [4]

Contents

The origin of Hortus Kewensis was a descriptive plant list produced by Aiton in 1773, presumably at the behest of Joseph Banks, who was then compiling his Florilegium. [5] Although published under Aiton's name, Hortus Kewensis was edited by Daniel Solander, Jonas Carlsson Dryander, and Robert Brown, who each worked as librarian and curator of Banks's collections in succession. [6]

A second edition was published between 1810 and 1813; [7] the bulk of the new information was added by Aiton's son William Townsend Aiton. In reference work, this is given the abbreviation Ait. Kew.

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References

  1. ↑ "Aiton, William (1731–1793), horticulturist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/260 . Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  2. ↑ Pagmenta 2009.
  3. ↑ Richmond 2010.
  4. ↑ Desmond, Ray (2003). Great Natural History Books and their Creators. p. 18.
  5. ↑ Desmond, Ray (1995). The History of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. p. 104.
  6. ↑ Desmond 1995, pp. 104–106.
  7. ↑ Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1793). Kew Record Book (1793–1809). [unpublished: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Bibliography


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