Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker: Traveller and Plant CollectorSir Joseph Hooker is remembered as an eminent Victorian botanist and one of Charles Darwin's closest collaborators. Many gardeners and lovers of rhododendrons know of his plant collecting expedition in the Himalayas, but few are aware of his participation in Sir James Clark Ross' epic voyage to Antarctica in 1839-43, of his visits to Syria and Lebanon in 1860, to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco in 1871, and to the Rockies and California in 1877. At some risk to his own safety and health (he came close to drowning in the Antarctic Ocean and was imprisoned by the Rajah of Sikkim), he discovered many new species of plants and introduced a number of attractive flowers into British gardens. When Hooker encountered European species growing in the southern hemisphere he naturally wondered how they got there. He shared his theories on plant distribution and other topics of mutual interest with Darwin to whom he also sent scientific data acquired during his travels. He was a competent surveyor who produce |
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Admiralty Antarctic Voyage Antarctica bamboo Bentham Botanic Garden botanist Botany Campbell Cape Captain Charles Darwin climbed collected collector colour Correspondence of Charles Curtis's Botanical Magazine Darjeeling Darwin to Hooker East Erebus and Terror expedition exploration Falklands father ferns Fitch Flora Antarctica Flora Indica Geological George Bentham Governor grass Hand-coloured lithograph herbarium hills Himalayan Journals Hodgson Hooker to Darwin Hooker's London Journal Huxley Ibid Indian Letters Islands J.C. Ross J.D. Hooker Joseph Dalton Hooker Joseph Hooker Journal of Botany Kangchenjunga Kerguelen's Land Kew Gardens Lama late R.A. Hooker Lepchas Letters from J.D. lichens Linnean Society miles mosses mountains naturalist Nepal never North pass plate Rajah Rhododendron river rocks Royal Geographical Society Royal Society scientific seeds ships Sikkim Sir William Hooker sketch by Hooker snow South species specimens Tasmania Thomson Tibet Tibetan travels trees tussock grass valley vegetation Voyage of Discovery Watercolour Wood engraving wrote Zealand