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History of Botanical Science
an account of the development of botany from ancient times to the present day
A.G.Morton
Julius Sachs (1832-97)
History of Botanical Science
an accounto f the development of botanyf rom
ancient times to the present day
A.G.MORTON
Emeritus Professor of Botany of London University
Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
1981
ACADEMIC PRESS
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Copyright @ 1981 by
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British Library Cataloguing in Production Data
Morton, A. G.
History of botanical science.
1. Botany-History
I. Title
581'.09 QK15
ISBN hardback 0-12-508380-7
ISBN paperback 0-12-508382-3
LCCCN 81-67891
Typeset by Paston Press, Norwich
Printed in Great Britain by St Edmundsbury Press, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
----Preface----
History needs to be constantly re-written-not in order to supersede
the work of earlier historians, itself a permanent part of history-but
to enlarge their vision with the new material and the unique illumina
tion provided by later experience.
When trying to give university students of botany an inkling of the
history of their subject, as an adjunct to the more serious business of
teaching its latest developments, I was struck by the lack of a history of
botany as seen from the standpoint of today. The histories ofE. F. H.
Meyer (1854) and Julius Sachs (1865) are indispensable but are now
classics, whilst the Short History of the Plant Sciences by H. S. Reid
(1942) and the Short History of Botany (in Russian, Moscow 1968) by
N. A. Basilevskaya, I. P. Belokon and A. A. Tscherbakova, and the
Geschichted er Botanik (1973) by K. Magdefrau, although useful, are not
entirely adequate to fulfil this need. It was with much misgiving that I
began writing a general history of botany, prompted by the sugges
tion of a colleague, and encouraged to proceed by others to whom I
spoke of my intention. My only qualification for the task, which has
proved far more laborious and time-consuming than I anticipated, is a
deep and life-long interest in the science of plants and in its history.
The only merit I would claim for this interpretation of botanical his
tory is that it is based on first-hand study of as many of the primary
sources as time and my own limitations permitted.
The distinctive feature of science as a human activity is the attempt
to find a structure of causal laws, a guiding theory, in the relations
between the particular phenomena it is concerned with. This is true of
the science of botany, even though it necessarily contains a large
descriptive element. In tracing its history I have therefore taken as my
central theme the evolution of botanical theory, of what men at dif
ferent times have thought about plants as a class ofbeings. The growth
of specifically botanical concepts from the existing knowledge of
plants, and the influence of these concepts on the further course of dis-
V
Preface
covery, are the twin threads of a long and fascinating story. Choice of
the term botanical science in the title is deliberate; it gives emphasis to
the viewpoint adopted, and also happens to be a closer rendering of the
older name for the science of plants.
The history of botany has many colourful facets, the study of which
throws light on the sources of its movement. Botany is indeed em
bedded in human history, from its origins in two of the most ancient
sciences of all, magic and medicine, through its long association with
pharmacology, agriculture and horticulture, to its part in the explora
tion of the world, and in ensuring the supply of food and raw materials
for the rise and maintenance of modern industrial society. Botany has
drawn strength from other sciences, and contributed to them in re
turn; and at various stages has reflected in its thought the philosophical
currents of the time. Before everything, botany is the creation of
botanists: knowledge of their lives and tribulations, their characters
and motives, are part of the fabric ofits history. All these aspects have
some place in our chronicle in so far as they contribute to deeper un
derstanding of the causes and the course of botanical progress.
My aim has been to write in a form sufficiently concise and unclut
tered by detail to be comprehensible to readers who are not botanists
and have no more than a general interest in the history of science,
whilst at the same time giving botanists an adequate account of the de
velopment of the principles and the factual basis of their science. The
text is a continuous story, complete in itself, which can be read with
out any reference to the notes. The copious and sometimes discursive
apparatus of notes is intended for those readers, and particularly for
those botanists, who may be interested in additional facts, comments,
and source material, which amplify the interpretation presented in the
text. Reference to the primary literature and to many secondary
sources will be found in the text or in the notes, but I have not included
a bibliography of all the works consulted in the preparation of this
book, as it could well exceed in length the notes already included.
Technical terms have been kept to a minimum but obviously cannot
be excluded from a work of this nature. Some explanation is indicated
for most of them, but others, whose meaning is not easily conveyed to
the non-botanist, can probably be taken by most readers in their
stride.
I have freely quoted actual words of many botanists of the past in
Vl
Preface
order to bring their thoughts as vividly as possible to modern readers.
Translations from Greek, Latin, French, German and Russian are
generally my own, but where there exist scholarly translations of
Greek and Latin sources I have naturally made grateful use of them.
The naming of a specific plant referred to in the older literature often
presents grave difficulties due to doubts about its identity, and to the
absence of systematic nomenclature before the Linnean reform. For
older plant references I have used the nearest English vernacular name,
or occasionally the contemporaneous Latin name (not italicized),
when these give as close an identification as is attainable; sometimes
the italicized Latin name of a modern genus or species is used, if iden
tification is fairly certain. For post-Linnean references the author's
Latin designation (when one is given) is quoted in italics, but no ac
count is taken of subsequent taxonomic changes. I hope this rough and
ready system will sufficiently indicate the likely identity in most cases,
without being either misleading or too repugnant to strict taxonomic
canons.
I am deeply grateful to Dr Joseph Needham, FRS, Director of the
East Asian History of Science Library, and to Mr D. M. Henderson,
Regius Keeper, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, for their helpful
comments on the manuscript. Needless to say, I alone am responsible
for all the inevitable errors of ignorance and inadvertence which re
main, as I am for the opinions expressed.
My thanks are due to the Governing Body of Chelsea College, Uni
versity of London, for the award of a Professorial Fellowship, during
the tenure of which this history was begun, and to the Leverhulme
Trust for the award of an Emeritus Fellowship, which greatly assisted
me in gathering together much of the necessary material for bringing
it to completion.
Edinburgh A.G.MORTON
July 1981
vii
----Contents----
Preface
V
List of Illustrations
Xl
Chapter 1 The Beginnings of the Knowledge of Plants 1
Chapter 2 The Origin of Botany as a Science 19
Chapter 3 Theophrastus to Galen: Botany in Hellenistic and
Roman Times (280 BC to AD 200) 58
Chapter 4 The Dark Ages of Botany in Europe (200 to 1483) 82
Chapter 5 Renascence of Botany in Europe: from Herbal to
Flora (1483 to 1623) 115
Chapter 6 A Chart for the Future (1623 to 1694) 165
Chapter 7 Camerarius to Linnaeus: the Recognition of Se~ in
Plants and the Exploration of the World Flora
(1694 to 1753) 232
Chapter 8 Enlightenment and Revolution in Botany (1753 to
1809) 287
Chapter 9 Establishment of a Unitary Theory of the
Structure and Life Cycle of Plants (1809 to 1851) 362
Chapter 10 Laying the Foundations of Modern Botany (1851
to 1912) 412
Chapter 11 Botany in the Twentieth Century 448
Index 467
lX
