‘The want of a proper Gardiner’: late Georgian Scottish botanic gardeners as intermediaries of medical and scientific knowledge

Hickman, Clare

doi:10.1017/s0007087419000451

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Here, gardeners, educated on the job, tried innovative cultivating techniques, created herbaria and were ultimately responsible for the enormous collection the Leiden botanical garden harboured. Gardeners were not always credited for what they did (Shabin 1989;Hickman 2019), but despite that they formed the backbone of many a botanical garden. The fact that we can now attribute these beautiful herbaria to Jakob Ligtvoet, gardener of the Leiden botanical garden, is a call to re-evaluate the contribution of gardeners in general, but of this gardener in particular.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The D’Oignies Herbarium: Contents and Origins of an early 18th Century Dutch Plant Collection in the Netherlands

Offerhaus,

Andel,

Stefanaki

et al. 2024

Preprint

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A little over 200 years ago an anonymous 18th-century herbarium was bought at auction by the National Library in The Hague. Until recently, not only did nobody know where this herbarium originated, its mystery was also surrounded by its content, beautifully dried plant specimens accompanied by garbled names. In 1868 it was handed over to the National Herbarium in Leiden (later incorporated in Naturalis Biodiversity Centre). The lack of scientific attention seemed at odds with the beauty and the possible historic relevance of this herbarium. We studied 796 digitised specimens, identifying 618 unique plant species in the process. Remarkable was the high number of exotic-, and non-medicinal, indigenous species. By determining their native range, comparing the herbarium with other, contemporary herbaria, studying paper and bindings, retracing the identity of one-time owner Simone D’Oignies, and in particular tracing the origin of the names, we were able to assess when it was made and what the scientific and societal value was. Our initial impression - that the D’Oignies herbarium was a garden herbarium - was eventually confirmed by information that upon his death, Jakob Ligtvoet (1686-1752), head gardener of the Leiden botanical garden, owned a herbarium with all the characteristics of this herbarium. Comparison with its twin herbarium, the Zierikee herbarium, convinced us that – contrary to earlier research by the author - it was the D’Oignies herbarium that matched the description of the herbarium once owned by Ligtvoet. However, both were created and kept by the gardeners of the Leiden botanical garden.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The D’Oignies Herbarium: Contents and Origins of an early 18th Century Dutch Plant Collection in the Netherlands

Offerhaus,

Andel,

Stefanaki

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…In these unpublished sources the invisible hand of the gardeners comes to light. It is essential that their role is given more scholarly attention, as they facilitated the flourishing science of Botany in the 18 th century (Shabin 1989;Hickman 2019;Berkhout 2020).…”

Section: Commented [G63]mentioning

confidence: 99%

The “true Boerhaave herbarium”: an analysis of the specimens of Herman Boerhaave (1668–1738) contained in the Van Royen collection at naturalis

2022

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Collecting plant specimens and making herbarium specimens was quintessential for an 18th century botanist. If we want to know more about how botanists in the early 18th century approached the science of botany we need to study the plant specimens themselves.Several dried plant specimens in a large 18 th century herbarium kept at Naturalis, Leiden, have at one time been identified as originating from Herman Boerhaave (1668-1738). These specimens have now been studied extensively and their origin established.We updated the existing identifications of the plant specimens and studied the way the specimens were mounted, the handwritings on the various labels and the use of decorations.The aim of this study was to establish which specimens came from Boerhaave and why relative few of them survived.We established which specimens were 'true' Boerhaave specimens. We completed the identification of most specimens and linked the extant labels to the seed register of the Leiden Hortus botanicus. The transcription of the text on the labels labels provided us with valuable information about the introduction and cultivation of indigenous and exotic, predominantly Mediterranean, plant species.Little effort has been put into connecting the contribution by Boerhaave with the output of the living collection of the Leiden Hortus botanicus at the time, that is, the herbarium specimens we now know to have been named by Boerhaave. By studying these specimens in their entirety we made his contribution visible.

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“…Gardeners like Hertog and Ligtvoet were well-informed, capable men, who, while not academically educated, played a vital role in the upkeep of the gardens under their supervision but evidently also in the science of botany. As intermediaries of medical and scienti c knowledge, gardeners were part of the scienti c and educational venture of the institution (Hickman, 2019). Their contribution was nearly always appropriated by someone higher in hierarchy.…”

Section: Role Of Gardenersmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Zierikzee Herbarium: An analysis of the contents and origins of an enigmatic herbarium

Offerhaus

Haas

Porck³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The Municipal Museum of Zierikzee houses a loose-leafed herbarium containing 360 dried plant specimens, of which the provenance, age and maker were until recently unknown. By studying the plant specimens, paper, decorations and labels, an image was conveyed of an early 18th century herbarium that matched the description of a herbarium from the legacy of Jakob Ligtvoet, who was gardener in the Leiden Hortus botanicus from 1703 till his death in 1752. This herbarium is one of the oldest garden herbaria of its kind and contains 306 unique species, of which 201 are currently native to the Netherlands. Exotic species come from the Mediterranean (82 spp.), Europe (24), South Africa (8), the Americas (9) and in tropical Asia (7). Based on our comparison of names on the oldest labels, this collection of dried plants was probably started after publication of the first garden catalogue by the prefect of the Leiden garden and professor of botany Herman Boerhaave (1710), but before the second edition in 1719. This historic herbarium reflects the state-of-the-art of botanical science and the international network of Dutch botanical gardens in the early 18th century.

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‘The want of a proper Gardiner’: late Georgian Scottish botanic gardeners as intermediaries of medical and scientific knowledge

Cited by 7 publications

References 25 publications

The D’Oignies Herbarium: Contents and Origins of an early 18th Century Dutch Plant Collection in the Netherlands

The D’Oignies Herbarium: Contents and Origins of an early 18th Century Dutch Plant Collection in the Netherlands

The “true Boerhaave herbarium”: an analysis of the specimens of Herman Boerhaave (1668–1738) contained in the Van Royen collection at naturalis

The Zierikzee Herbarium: An analysis of the contents and origins of an enigmatic herbarium

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