Big Tree folk
Scotland has a proud history of plant collecting, with Perthshire staking the main claim to fame. The area boasts two men widely regarded as being amongst the greatest plant hunters, Archibald Menzies from Aberfeldy and David Douglas from Scone.
Archibald Menzies (1754 - 1842)
A surgeon-naturalist with the Royal Navy, Menzies initially recorded many of the species now commonly grown in this country. He was the first to describe the great conifer trees on North America’s western seaboard.
His most bizarre find resulted from dining out one night in Chile. Unable to identify some nuts on the table, he popped a few in his pocket. Several sprouted on the voyage home and led to the weird and wonderful looking monkey puzzle tree taking root in Europe.
A lesser known fact is that, although David Douglas introduced the Douglas fir to Scotland, it was Menzies that first saw it on his travels. In recognition of this fact, Douglas ensured the latin name for the tree - Pseudotsuga menziesii - acknowledged his counterpart's earlier work.
David Douglas (1799 - 1834)
At the age of just 11, Douglas began training as a gardener at Scone Palace. He later sailed to America and worked under the most difficult conditions as his diary shows:
“Cannot speak a word to my guide, not a book to read, constantly in expectation of attack, and the position I am in now in is lying on the grass with my gun beside me, writing by the light of my candle.”
Douglas introduced more than 200 new plants to Britain including some of the most important trees in our countryside. The Douglas fir is named after him and he is responsible for introducing some of the most commonly grown garden plants such as lupins and sunflowers. Tragically, he died young, gored to death by a wild bull in Hawaii.
