On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae

Last updated
Title page On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae.djvu
Title page

On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae is an 1809 paper on the family Proteaceae of flowering plants. Although nominally written by Joseph Knight as a paper on cultivation techniques, all but 13 pages consists of an unattributed taxonomic revision now known to have been written by Richard Salisbury.

Publication of the paper triggered one of the most bitter disputes in 19th century botany, because Salisbury had preempted the publication of numerous plant names that Robert Brown had intended to publish. Brown's paper had already been read to the Linnean Society of London, at meeting which Salisbury had attended, but his paper had not yet made it to print. In publishing this paper before Brown's On the natural order of plants called Proteaceae had been printed, Salisbury beat Brown to print, claiming priority for the names that Brown had authored. As a result of this, Salisbury was accused of plagiarism and ostracised from botanical circles. Contemporary notes and letters indicate widespread condemnation of Salisbury's actions. For example, Samuel Goodenough wrote "How shocked was I to see Salisbury's surreptitious anticipation of Brown's paper on new Holland plants, under the name and disguise of Mr. Hibbert's gardener! Oh it is too bad!"; and James Edward Smith wrote that he had a copy of Knight's paper "but shall not keep it — I mean hereafter not to notice it or any other of the author's productions." Brown himself wrote of Salisbury "I scarcely know what to think of him except that he stands between a rogue and a fool."

Initially, Salisbury's names were ignored in favour of Brown's names. When the conservation of generic names was introduced in the 1900s, Brown's genera were formally conserved. However it was not possible to conserve species names until the 1980s, by which time the priority of Salisbury's species names had long been accepted. Thus On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae is the source of numerous names of Proteaceae taxa.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)</span> Scottish botanist (1773–1858)

Robert Brown was a Scottish botanist and paleobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope. His contributions include one of the earliest detailed descriptions of the cell nucleus and cytoplasmic streaming; the observation of Brownian motion; early work on plant pollination and fertilisation, including being the first to recognise the fundamental difference between gymnosperms and angiosperms; and some of the earliest studies in palynology. He also made numerous contributions to plant taxonomy, notably erecting a number of plant families that are still accepted today; and numerous Australian plant genera and species, the fruit of his exploration of that continent with Matthew Flinders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Anthony Salisbury</span> British botanist and gardener (1761-1829)

Richard Anthony Salisbury, FRS was a British botanist. While he carried out valuable work in horticultural and botanical sciences, several bitter disputes caused him to be ostracised by his contemporaries.

<i>Isopogon</i> Genus of flowering plants

Isopogon, commonly known as conesticks, conebushes or coneflowers, is a genus of about forty species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae, and are endemic to Australia. They are shrubs with rigid leaves, bisexual flowers in a dense spike or "cone" and the fruit is a small, hairy nut.

<i>Isopogon anemonifolius</i> A shrub of the family Proteaceae that is found only in eastern New South Wales in Australia

Isopogon anemonifolius, commonly known as broad-leaved drumsticks, is a shrub of the family Proteaceae that is native only to eastern New South Wales in Australia. It occurs naturally in woodland, open forest, and heathland on sandstone soils. I. anemonifolius usually ranges between one and two metres in height, and is generally smaller in exposed heathland. Its leaves are divided and narrow, though broader than those of the related Isopogon anethifolius, and have a purplish tinge during the cooler months. The yellow flowers appear during late spring or early summer and are displayed prominently. They are followed by round grey cones, which give the plant its common name drumsticks. The small hairy seeds are found in the old flower parts.

<i>Isopogon anethifolius</i> Shrub in the family Proteaceae

Isopogon anethifolius, commonly known as narrow-leaf drumsticks or narrow-leafed drumsticks, is a shrub in the family Proteaceae. The species is found only in coastal areas near Sydney in New South Wales, and to the immediate west. It occurs naturally in woodland, open forest and heathland on sandstone soils. An upright shrub, it can reach to 3 m (9.8 ft) in height, with terete leaves that are divided and narrow. The yellow flowers appear in the Spring, from September to December, and are prominently displayed. They are followed by round grey cones, which give the plant its common name of drumsticks. The small hairy seeds are found in the old flower parts.

<i>Grevillea mucronulata</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to New South Wales, Australia

Grevillea mucronulata, also known as green spider flower or green grevillea, is a species of flowering plant of the family Proteaceae and is endemic to New South Wales in Australia. Described by Robert Brown in 1810, it is found in open sclerophyll forest or woodland around the Sydney region and New South Wales south coast. It grows as a small bush to 3 m (9.8 ft) high and wide, with variable foliage and greenish flowers that appear over the cooler months from May to October. The flowers are attractive to birds.

Joseph Knight, gardener to George Hibbert, was one of the first people in England to successfully propagate Proteaceae. He is remembered as the nominal author of a publication that caused one of the biggest controversies of 19th-century English botany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">On the natural order of plants called Proteaceae</span>

On the natural order of plants called Proteaceae, also published as "On the Proteaceae of Jussieu", was a paper written by Robert Brown on the taxonomy of the plant family Proteaceae. It was read to the Linnean Society of London in the first quarter of 1809, and published in March 1810. It is significant for its contribution to the systematics of Proteaceae, and to the floristics of Australia, and also for its application of palynology to systematics.

<i>Isopogon ceratophyllus</i> Species of plant of the family Proteaceae that is endemic to Australia

Isopogon ceratophyllus, commonly known as the horny cone-bush or wild Irishman, is a plant of the family Proteaceae that is endemic to the coast in Victoria, South Australia and on the Furneaux Group of islands in Tasmania. It is a small woody shrub that grows to 100 cm high with prickly foliage. It is extremely sensitive to dieback from the pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi

<i>Telopea truncata</i> Shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Tasmania

Telopea truncata, commonly known as the Tasmanian waratah, is a plant in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to Tasmania where it is found on moist acidic soils at altitudes of 600 to 1200 m (2000–4000 ft). Telopea truncata is a component of alpine eucalypt forest, rainforest and scrub communities. It grows as a multistemmed shrub to a height of 3 metres (10 ft), or occasionally as a small tree to 10 m (35 ft) high, with red flower heads, known as inflorescences, appearing over the Tasmanian summer and bearing 10 to 35 individual flowers. Yellow-flowered forms are occasionally seen, but do not form a population distinct from the rest of the species.

<i>Grevillea pteridifolia</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Australia

Grevillea pteridifolia is a species of Grevillea native to Australia. Common names include silky grevillea, Darwin silky oak, ferny-leaved silky oak, fern-leaved grevillea, golden grevillea, golden tree and golden parrot tree. It occurs in Western Australia, Northern Territory, and Queensland.

<i>Hakea gibbosa</i> Species of shrub of the family Proteaceae endemic to south eastern Australia

Hakea gibbosa, commonly known as hairy hakea or needlebush hakea, is a shrub of the family Proteaceae, and is endemic to south eastern Australia. It has very prickly foliage, cream-yellowish flowers from April to July, and provides shelter for small birds. It has become an environmental weed in South Africa and New Zealand, where it had been introduced for use as a hedge plant.

<i>Persoonia laurina</i> Species of shrub

Persoonia laurina, commonly known as the laurel-leaved or laurel geebung, is a shrub of the family Proteaceae native to central New South Wales in eastern Australia. Found in sclerophyll forest, it grows to a height of 2 metres. The yellow flowers appear in late spring.

<i>Lomatia silaifolia</i> Species of plant in the family, Proteaceae native to eastern Australia

Lomatia silaifolia, commonly known as crinkle bush or parsley fern, is a plant of the family, Proteaceae native to eastern Australia. Naturally found in open forest, it grows as a small shrub 1–2 m high with highly pinnate leaves reminiscent of parsley. The white inflorescences appear in summer.

<i>Lomatia tinctoria</i> Species of shrub

Lomatia tinctoria, commonly known as guitar plant, is a shrub to about 2 metres tall of the family Proteaceae. It is one of three species of Lomatia endemic to Tasmania, the others being L. polymorpha and L. tasmanica. Lomatia tinctoria is closely related to L. polymorpha, with which it sometimes hybridises. Its leaves are divided, while those of L. polymorpha are simple.

<i>Leucospermum gracile</i> Shrub in the family Proteaceae from the Western Cape of South Africa

Leucospermum gracile is a low spreading shrub of 30–40 cm high and forms open mats of 1½ m (5 ft) in diameter, from the family Proteaceae. It has reddish flowering stems, oblong to linear leaves of 2–4½ cm (0.8–1.8 in) long and 2–5 mm (0.08–0.20 in) wide, with one or three teeth. The initially yellow, later orange flower heads of 2½–3 cm (1.0–1.2 in) in diameter are flat-topped. The flower heads occur from July to October. From the flowers occur long styles with a slightly thicker tip, which together give the impression of a pincushion. It is called Hermanus pincushion in English. It naturally occurs in fynbos in the southern mountains of the Western Cape province of South Africa.

<i>Leucospermum saxatile</i> Shrub in the family Proteaceae from the Western Cape of South Africa

Leucospermum saxatile is an evergreen, rising to sprawling shrub of ½–¾ m high and 1–1½ m (3⅓–5 ft) wide, from the family Proteaceae. It has reddish tinged flowering stems and line-shaped, narrowing wedge-shaped leaves of 2½–5 cm(1–2 in) long and 2–5 mm (0.08–0.20 in) wide, with one to three blunt teeth, whorl-shaped, flat-topped, at first pale lime green but later carmine flower heads of 2½–3 cm across, mostly individually but sometimes grouped with two or three, each on a stalk. The flower heads occur from July to October. From the flowers occur long styles with a slightly thicker tip, which together give the impression of a pincushion. It is called Karoo pincushion in English. Flowering heads can be found from July until February. It naturally occurs in fynbos in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

<i>Isopogon longifolius</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to the southwest of Western Australia

Isopogon longifolius is a small shrub in the family Proteaceae that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia.

<i>Isopogon linearis</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to the southwest of Western Australia

Isopogon linearis is a small shrub in the family Proteaceae that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia.

<i>Protea canaliculata</i> Species of shrub

Protea canaliculata, also known as the groove-leaf sugarbush, is a species of flowering shrub of the genus Protea, which is endemic to the Cape Provinces of South Africa.

References