Date of Birth - 1798

Don worked his father’s nursery gardens, followed by positions in nurseries in Edinburgh (Messers Dicksons) and London (The Portman). He eventually became foreman at Chelsea Botanical Garden under William Anderson. In 1822, aged 23, he was chosen by the Horticultural Society of London to “hunt for plants in three continents and scour the islands in between”. He set sail in HMS Iphigenia with Captain Sabine (who also coached David Douglas in surveying) to the tropical African Coast. The itinerary included 14 months collecting in 6 different countries in the ‘white man’s grave’ on the west coast of Africa, in 6 of the main islands of the Atlantic and to land at four places on the Brazilian seaboard and Manhattan Island, N. America before returning home.

Collectors like Don were young and eager to make a name for themselves. The only plant to be named after him was Memecylon donianum. His mission directions were to return with plants ‘which will be esteemed in our gardens for their beauty and singularity’. The first port of call was Madeira, then Tenerife, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea. He found the Guineans far from welcoming - suspecting them to be another slave ship. In Sierra Leone he was fascinated by the flora - where Annanas comosus ‘Pineapples’ were growing wild, with Amaryllis sp and Clerodendrum sp. Whilst collecting, it was essential for local guides to help interpret the trails of wild animals for the unsuspecting gardener.

In July 1822 they reached Brazil , then on to Jamaica and Cuba in November, and Manhattan Island New York in December, sadly at this stage of the voyage many of the tropical plants on board the ship, were killed by frost. Upon investigation on return to England many of the plants he had sent home earlier, or that survived the journey on board were fascinating introductions to the Horticultural Society of London in Chisick, as they were unknown to science.

Following his travels George Don (junior) went on to become a succesful writer preparing the first supplement to to J. C. Loudon’s Encyclopaedia of Plants, publishing four volumes on the the General System of Gardening and Botany as well as a Monograph on the Genus Allium or Onions, as well several other important works.

Countries visited: Madeira, then Tenerife, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Brazil, Cuba , USA.

Awards: ALS 1822, FLS 1831

George Don Main Plant Associations:
In the main the collections of George Don are tropical and not suitable for outdoor cultivation examples of these include :- Bartholetia excelsis - Brazil nut, Gloriosa superba, Haemanthus multiflorus, Pandanus candelabrum, Plumbago zeylanica.

• Allium carinatum subsp pulchellum
• Allium cernuum
• Allium flavum
• Allium narcissiflorum
• Allium neopolitanum
• Allium obliquum
• Allium schoenoprasum ‘Forecate’
• Allium senescens var montanum
• Allium sphaerocephalon
• Allium triquetrum
• Allium tuberosum
• Aquilegia canadensis
• Aralia spinosa
• Erythronium americanum
• Hamamelis virginica
• Iris foetidissima
• Kalamia latifolia
• Rhododendron periclymenoides
• Rhododendron prinophyllum
• Rhododendron viscosum