Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 British Tree Cultures in the Nineteenth Century
- 2 Trees and Taxonomy
- 3 British Arboriculture, c. 1800–35
- 4 John Claudius Loudon's Arboretums
- 5 The Botany of the Arboretum Britannicum
- 6 The Derby Arboretum
- 7 Estate Arboretums
- 8 Public Urban Arboretums
- 9 The Transformation of Victorian Public Arboretums
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
2 - Trees and Taxonomy
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 British Tree Cultures in the Nineteenth Century
- 2 Trees and Taxonomy
- 3 British Arboriculture, c. 1800–35
- 4 John Claudius Loudon's Arboretums
- 5 The Botany of the Arboretum Britannicum
- 6 The Derby Arboretum
- 7 Estate Arboretums
- 8 Public Urban Arboretums
- 9 The Transformation of Victorian Public Arboretums
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Botany became one of the most fashionable and popular British Georgian pursuits, particularly after the translation and publication of the works of Carl Linnaeus. The Linnaean system helped to make botany accessible for men, women and children alike by providing a key through which plants in flower could be identified easily without requiring a profound knowledge of botanical characteristics. There were, however, other important aspects to British botany inspired by the economic, patriotic, cultural and fashionable emphasis upon horticultural and agricultural improvement. During the later Georgian period, and inspired by French botany and British arboriculture, increasing importance was attached to the interconnectedness of taxonomy, vegetable physiology and anatomy. The popularity of botany is exemplified by the number of natural historical works that were published and disseminated, the development of private gardens and commercial nurseries, creation of herbariums, practice of flower painting and formation of botanical societies. Introductions to the Linnaean system, intended for both sexes, sold widely and there were various attempts to translate key Linnaean works into English, whilst Erasmus Darwin's Loves of the Plants (1789), a poetical representation of the Linnaean world personified, proved especially popular during the 1790s. Although various botanical systems competed internationally in the period between 1760 and 1820, Linnaean taxonomy was dominant, particularly in Britain. The greatest challenge came from those who proffered what they claimed to be more ‘natural’ systems, especially French botanists such as Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu, although their work was partly inspired by suggestions offered by Linnaeus.
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- Information
- The British ArboretumTrees, Science and Culture in the Nineteenth Century, pp. 37 - 58Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014