George Don

For the British general, see George Don (British Army officer).

George Don (29 April 1798 – 25 February 1856) was a Scottish botanist.

George Don was born at Doo Hillock, Forfar, Angus, Scotland on 29 April 1798. His father, also named George Don, was Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 1802 and his mother was Caroline Clementina Stuart. George was the elder brother of David Don, also a botanist. The younger George Don became foreman of the gardens at Chelsea in 1816. In 1821 he was sent to Brazil, the West Indies and Sierra Leone to collect specimens for the Royal Horticultural Society. Most of his discoveries were published by Joseph Sabine, although Don published several new species from Sierra Leone.

Don's main work was his four volume A General System of Gardening and Botany, published between 1832 and 1838 (often referred to as Gen. Hist., an abbreviation of the alternative title: A General History of the Dichlamydeous Plants). He revised the first supplement to Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Plants, and provided a Linnean arrangement to Loudon's Hortus Britannicus. He also wrote a monograph on the genus Allium and a review of Combretum. He died at Kensington, London, on 25 February 1856.

The television gardener Monty Don is a great-nephew.

The plant species authored by George Don include:

• Acacia cyclops G.Don
  Coastal Wattle
• Acacia deltoidea G.Don
• Acacia holosericea G.Don
  Candelbra Wattle
• Acacia podalyriifolia G.Don
• Acacia rigens G.Don
  Nealie
• Catharanthus roseus (L.) G.Don
  Pink Periwinkle
• Daviesia physodes G.Don
• Isotoma scapigera (R.Br.) G.Don
  Long-scaped Isotome
• Lagunaria patersonia (Andrews) G.Don
• Ludwigia hyssopifolia (G.Don) Exell
• Modiola caroliniana (L.) G.Don
• Sagina maritima G.Don
• Sphenotoma squarrosum (R.Br.) G.Don
• Swainsona formosa (G.Don) Joy Thomps.
• Viola pedatifida G.Don
  Prairie violet

See also List of Australian plant species authored by George Don.

References

• Hall, Norman (1978). Botanists of the Eucalypts. CSIRO, Melbourne. ISBN 0-643-00271-5.

Bibliography

• A general history of the dichlamydeous plants etc. by George Don in the Biodiversity Heritage Library
• A general system of gardening and botany. Founded upon Miller's Gardener's dictionary, and arranged according to the natural system. 1831–1838