Date of Birth - 1786

Drummond started work as an employee of George Dickson the Edinburgh nurseryman, this was followed by a period as Curator of the Botanic Garden at the Cork Institution in Ireland. It was during this time that he made the first discovery in the British isles of the North American orchid Sipranthes romanzoffiana.

In 1826 exploration began into Western Australia. The Government sent out a party of colonists under Sir John Stirling in Spring 1829, founding Perth and Freemantle. James Drummond had been curator of Cork Botanic Garden for 17 years when he was appointed to lay out a botanic garden for the new colony. The Horticulture Society supplied a collection of seed - mostly vegetables and fruit, chrysanthemums and dahlias.

Drummond was middle aged with a family. He was given high hopes of promotion with his new post but when times were hard his post was abolished and he became the Government Naturalist which was also abolished. 1835 he started farming and 2 years later he became an independent collector. He was in an area with very interesting flora and the region received much interest from gardeners.
From the early days colony enthusiasts sent seeds to correspondents at home. Drummond sent a large consignment of more than 200 seeds to a correspondent for sale. There are no accounts of Drummonds travels until he entered into correspondence with W.J. Hooker in 1840. It was then he made his first expedition to King George's Sound a trip of 300 miles which took two months. He injured his foot which curtailed his work in fulfilling orders. He had a contract with a firm to supply seeds and bulbs every year.
1842 he was active again and made an expedition to Augusta, discovering Dasypogon hookerii - a plant of botanical but not horticultural importance. 1843 he made an ambitious tour of the south east region of Australia. This was one of his most successful trips, finding the black flowered Boronia megastigma, Banksia sp. and Dryandra sp. He sent home Anigozanthus pulcherrinus, Backhousia myrtifolia and Leschendaultia laricina. The sale of his finds hardly covered his expenses. Then at 60 he continued to collect. At 66 he set off on his most difficult journey north to Murchiston River - which lasted 18 months. Unfortunately there is no journal of this trip. He was still sending seeds to England in 1861 and died two years later in Perth aged 79.

Countries visited: Ireland and Australia

Awards: ALS 1810

James Drummond Main Plant Introductions:
Chorizema varium, Pimelia spectabilis, Leschenaultia biloba, Acacia drummondi was named after him and the genus Drummondita for both him and his brother Thomas - the I for James and the T for Thomas.

In view of the fact that much of Drummonds collections are non hardy. He will be represented in the garden by several groves of Eucalyptus sp which are evocative of Australia.

• Eucalyptus coccifera
• Eucalyptus dalrympleana
• Eucalyptus gunnii
• Eucalyptus pauciflora
• Eucalyptus vernicosa