Joseph Hooker: a philosophical botanist

The nineteenth-century British botanist, Joseph Dalton Hooker,was one of the people whose career became a model for that of the modern,professional scientist.However,he preferred to refer to himself as a philosophical botanist, rather than a professional. This paper explores the reasons for this choice,and analyses Hooker's imperial approach to plant classification, the consequences of which are still with us.     

The Role of a Modern Botanic Garden: the Evolution of Kew

The history of botanic gardens in the United Kingdom is sketched out with particular reference to the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and its changing role to meet societal requirements over 250 years. Kew's position as a modem scientific institution confronting today's environmental issues through its Breathing Planet Programme yet retaining its heritage buildings and collections is pinpointed.     

The vascular plants of Joseph Dalton Hooker's An enumeration of the plants of the Galapagos Archipelago; with descriptions of those which are new

The first floristic work on the Galápagos Islands was published by J. D. Hooker in 1847. It was based mainly on the Beagle collections of Charles Darwin, but those of James McRae, John Scouler. Hugh Cuming, David Douglas, Thomas Edmonston, Abel Du Petit-Thouars and John Goodridge were also used, though those of Archibald Menzies, the first botanist to visit the archipelago, were not. The visits of these naturalists and their collections are discussed. Darwin's field notes on Galápagos plants, hitherto unpublished, are given, and most of the species identified. In the taxonomic portion of the paper, each taxon included by Hooker is discussed, the nomenclaturally or-taxonomically correct name is indicated, specimens examined by Hooker are enumerated, and additional specimens presumably seen but not cited by him are given. Hooker wrote before our present type concept had evolved, and consequently 51 of his 114 new names needed to be typified, as did four others based on Darwin Galápagos collections. In addition, examination of these specimens revealed one species not yet reported from the archipelago ( Galium canescens ), one new island record ( Chamaesyce hirta on James Island), and one deletion from the flora ( Malachra capitala )