| 词条 | Walter Davis (botanist) |
| 释义 |
Walter Davis (14 September 1847 – 18 November 1930) was an English[1] plant collector, who collected in South America for James Veitch & Sons of Chelsea, London. CareerEarly lifeDavis was born at Sarson Street, now part of Amport, near Andover, Hampshire. According to Hortus Veitchii, he "inherited from his father a taste for Natural History and outdoor pursuits, which later took the form of a love of gardening".[1] At 12 years old, he left school and started work in the gardens of the Marquess of Winchester at Amport House; the house had been rebuilt in 1857, and the gardens were being re-modelled. He then moved to Wilton Park Gardens, at Beaconsfield where he stayed for four years, rising to the rank of departmental foreman.[1] His travels then took him to work for Mr. C. Ryder at Slade, Kent followed by a spell at the gardens of Mr. T. W. Evans at Allestree Hall, Derby, before, in 1870, he joined James Veitch & Sons at Chelsea, London.[1] James Veitch & SonsAt Chelsea, he worked under John Dominy in the "New Plant Department" and eventually became foreman in charge of the Nepenthes and fine foliage plants.[2] In 1873, following the departures of George Downton and A. R. Endres, Harry Veitch was looking for a plant collector to travel to South America to locate and collect a quantity of the orchid, Masdevallia veitchiana, which had been introduced to England in 1867, following its discovery by Richard Pearce but was still scarce.[1] Veitch selected Davis, and on 2 August 1873 he departed for South America.[1] He remained in South America for three years, during which time he crossed the Andean Cordilleras in Peru, Colombia and Bolivia at least twenty times, at elevations of up to {{convert|17000|ft|m}}[3] and, like his predecessor Gustav Wallis he traversed the continent, travelling the entire length of the Amazon River.[2] During his trip, he was successful not only in collecting M. veitchiana but several other species of the genus, including the graceful violet-blue M. ionocharis (which he found in the Andean valley of Sandia, in the province of Carabaya, Peru, at {{convert|9000|ft|m|abbr=on}} elevation)[4] and the golden-yellow M. davisii (the Incas' Qoriwaqanki or "golden waqanki"), which Davis discovered in the vicinity of Cusco, Peru.[5] He sent flowers to Heinrich Reichenbach for identification; in The Gardeners' Chronicle, Reichenbach described this new species as "M. davisii", saying: "This is a beautiful thing, much like M. harryana and veitchiana.... The other parts of the flower are yellowish, white and of the deepest splendid orange inside; so that it would appear to give a most welcome contrast in a group of the scarlet and vermillion and white Masdevallias. It was discovered by a, most probably new collector, Mr. W. Davis... I have a very good opinion of this collector, who was introduced to me by a set of new dried Orchids; so I thought it my duty to attach the name of such a promising collector to such a welcome Masdevallia."[6] Near Arequipa in Peru, he also discovered a new species of tuberous begonia, Begonia davisii, which was also named after him.[7][8] B. davisii was later used in the early days of breeding Begonia × tuberhybrida cultivars by John Seden in the Veitch Nurseries at Coombe Wood.[9][10] Return to EnglandOn his return to England in 1877, Davis was selected to conduct a botanical analysis of herbage on the experimental plots at Rothamsted.[3] He returned to Chelsea on the termination of this engagement and re-commenced employment for Veitch Nurseries, working in the plant propagation department.[2] He became a specialist in this field, and wrote for the Exchange & Mart for many years under the pseudonyms of Charles Benett (using his mother's maiden name) and Curiosus.[11] Later lifeDavis continued to work for James Veitch & Sons until the dissolution of the business in 1914,[12] after which he became secretary to the Geological Society and then the Royal Geographical Society.[11] He also acted as secretary to a philanthropic society managed by American women in London.[11] Following a paralytic stroke which led to failing eyesight, Davis spent the last ten years of his life in retirement, in the care of his eldest daughter, in Fulham.[11] He died on 18 November 1930, and his obituary in the Journal of Botany praised his contribution to botany: "with his passing the world of orchidology bids farewell to one of the last reminders of an elegant and exciting period in orchid discovery and cultivation".[11] Publications
References1. ^1 2 3 4 {{cite book | author=James Herbert Veitch| title=Hortus Veitchii| publisher=Caradoc Doy | year=2006|edition=reprint|page=65| isbn=0-9553515-0-2}} 2. ^1 2 {{cite book | author=Sue Shephard | title=Seeds of Fortune – A Gardening Dynasty| publisher=Bloomsbury | year=2003|pages=181–182| isbn=0-7475-6066-8}} 3. ^1 {{cite book | title=Hortus Veitchii|page=66| isbn= }} 4. ^{{cite book | title=Hortus Veitchii|page=180| isbn= }} 5. ^1 {{cite book | author=Mary E. Gerritsen & Ron Parsons| title=Masdevallias: Gems of the Orchid World| publisher=Timber Press | year=2005|page=20| isbn=0-88192-737-6}} 6. ^{{cite book | title=Masdevallias: Gems of the Orchid World|page=19| isbn= }} 7. ^{{cite book | title=Hortus Veitchii|page=457| isbn= }} 8. ^{{cite book | title=Hortus Veitchii|page=232| isbn= }} 9. ^{{cite book|author=John E. Bryan |title=Bulbs|publisher=Timber Press|year=2002|page=121|isbn = 0-88192-529-2 }} 10. ^{{cite web| url= http://www.cfgphoto.com/photos-begonias-tuberhybrida.html|title = Tuberhybrida Cultivars|author=Geoff Bryant |publisher=Country, Farm & Garden|accessdate=18 November 2008}} 11. ^1 2 3 4 {{cite web| url= http://www.orchids.co.in/orchidologists/walter-davis.shtm|title = Walter Davis (1847–1930) |publisher=orchids.co.in|accessdate=19 November 2008}} 12. ^{{cite book | title=Seeds of Fortune – A Gardening Dynasty|page=275| isbn=}} 13. ^[https://archive.org/details/PlantPropagation Extracts on Million Book Project] External links
7 : English botanists|1847 births|1930 deaths|People from Andover, Hampshire|Veitch Nurseries|Botanists active in South America|Plant collectors |
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