David Douglas

David Douglas

David Douglas, botanist (b at Scone near Perth, Scotland 25 July 1799; d in Hawaii 12 July 1834). Douglas became an apprentice gardener at age 11; at 20 he moved to the Botanic Gardens, Glasgow, and at 23 became a collector for the Horticultural Society of London in North America. He collected in Canada: near Amherstburg, Upper Canada, in 1823; along the Columbia, Saskatchewan and Hayes rivers to Hudson Bay in 1827; and along the Okanagan and Fraser rivers beyond Fort George [Prince George] in 1833. Douglas was the first white man known to have climbed Mount Brown in the Canadian Rockies.

He described nearly 200 new species of plants and introduced more plants (254) to Europe from North America than any other man. About 50 plant species and one genus, Douglasia, are named for him, in addition to the DOUGLAS FIR, "the most important tree in the American lumber trade." He died when he accidentally fell into a pit used to trap wild bullocks and was trampled.