ON THE HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF SOME MULTIPLE DISCOVERIES IN BOTANY, 1648–1965

Historians and others have given attention to multiple independent discoveries because of their implications for the nature of scientific discovery in general. However, previously published lists of such discoveries include almost no examples from botany. That this has been a matter of oversight is shown by the presentation of 22 cases of multiple botanical discoveries, the circumstances of which are briefly described. These examples show a number of the same general characteristics as those in other fields of science. They range in importance from the broadly sweeping to the narrowly specific, and show various degrees of simultaneity. They illustrate the problems of interpretation involved in judging functional equivalence, identity of central message, and priority. The bearing of some of the examples on various theories of the cause of multiple discoveries is also discussed. It is concluded that multiple discoveries have probably occurred as frequently in botany as in other sciences, and they display the same characteristics and generate the same problems of interpretation.