David Douglas, Pioneering Botanist, Born (1799)

If you’ve ever wondered why a species is named what it is—for example, why is that horse from Mongolia named Przewalski’s horse?—today can solve one of those questions.  Not about Przewalski’s horse, but about the Douglas-fir.

David Douglas (drawing from Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, 1834)

            David Douglas was born in Scotland on June 25, 1799 (died 1834).  As a boy, Douglas loved nature, so when he finished primary school, his father sent him to apprentice with a local gardener.  The work proved successful, and soon Douglas had landed a position with the Botanical Gardens in Glasgow.  His boss there was a famous botanist, William Hooker, who saw the potential in Douglas—Hooker said that Douglas showed “great activity, singular abstemiousness and energetic zeal.”  He got Douglas a job with the Horticulture Society of London as a plant collector for the expeditions that were occurring around the globe; his task was to discover interesting species that could have value back in England—especially oaks, fruit trees and garden plants—and send living specimens back.

            This task consumed the rest of Douglas’ life.  His first voyage had him headed to China, but a diplomatic scuffle between England and China changed the plans.  Instead, in 1823, he collected in the eastern United States and Canada, sending back many varieties of fruit trees and other plants.  His success led to a bigger challenge—in 1825, he joined an excursion of the Hudson’s Bay Company to establish their headquarters at Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River (today’s Vancouver, Washington). 

A stand of Douglas-fir in Washington state (photo by Dave Powell, USDA Forest Service)

            For two years, Douglas roamed the forests of the Pacific Northwest, walking 4,000 miles and usually accompanied only by his dog and a Native American guide.  He returned to England in 1827, but came back for another expedition in 1930, spending three years further exploring in Oregon, Washington, California and, eventually, Hawaii.  During his time as a roving botanist, Douglas described about 250 plants that were unknown in England, sending home specimens of many.  Among them were evergreen species desirable for the lumber trade—Sitka spruce (now the most widely planted lumber species in Europe), sugar pine, western white pine, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, Monterey pine and others.  The profusion of new pines was so amazing that Douglas wrote to his mentor, William Hooker, “you will begin to think I manufacture pines at my pleasure.”

Douglas-fir cone (photo by WPF)

            One species of particular importance was named for this exploring botanist, the Douglas-fir (the name is also written as two words, Douglas fir).  For many years, the scientific name of the species also recognized Douglas, but a description was found by an earlier naturalist, so the species was renamed for him, as Pseudotsuga menziesii.  Douglas-firs are among the most common forest trees in the Pacific Northwest, grown and harvested for their many uses, from timber beams to lumber to paper fiber.  The trees can be huge—taller than 300 feet, and more than 11 feet in diameter.  In 1936, Oregon declared the Douglas-fir the state tree, and David Douglas holds a special place in Oregon’s history as botanist and explorer.

            David Douglas lived an adventurer’s life, and he died an adventurer’s death.  When just 34, he was exploring the Mauna Kea volcano on the island of Hawaii.  Wild cattle roamed the landscape, and cattlemen dug large, deep pits to trap unwary cattle.  Douglas traveled with an experienced guide who led him around these pits, but when they reached an elevation where the pits stopped, the guide left Douglas on his own.  Douglas, however, backtracked to lower elevations and fell into a trap.  A bull was already in the trap, or perhaps fell in later.  In either case, when passers-by noticed Douglas’s dog sitting by the edge of the trap, they found Douglas’s mutilated dead body at the bottom of the pit.

            The lesson:  look up at the beautiful trees, but look down once in a while, too.

References:

Discovering Lewis & Clark.  David Douglas (1799-1834).  Available at:  http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/487.  Accessed March 7, 2020.

Lang, Frank A.  David Douglas (1799-1834).  The Oregon Encyclopedia. Available at:  https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/douglas_david/#.XmLhSGhKhRY. Accessed March 7, 2020.

Lang, Frank A.  Douglas-fir. The Oregon Encyclopedia.  Available at:  https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/douglas_fir/#.XmPS8WhKhRY. Accessed March 7, 2020.

Oregon History Project.  David Douglas.  Available at:  https://oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/biographies/david-douglas-biography/#.XmLjGmhKhRY.  Accessed March 7, 2020.

The Douglas Archives.  David Douglas.  Available at:  http://www.douglashistory.co.uk/history/daviddouglas.htm#.XmPQvmhKhRY.  Accessed March 7, 2020.

This Month in Conservation

March 1
Yellowstone National Park Established (1872)
March 2
Theodore Geisel, or Dr. Seuss, Born (1904)
March 3
World Wildlife Day and Creation of CITES (1973)
March 3
Isle Royale National Park Authorized (1931)
March 4
Hot Springs National Park Established (1921)
March 5
Lynn Margulis, Evolutionary Biologist, Born (1938)
March 6
Martha Burton Williamson, Pioneering Malacologist, Born (1843)
March 7
Luther Burbank Born (1849)
March 8
Everett Horton Patents the Telescoping Fishing Rod (1887)
March 9
The Turbot War Begins (1995)
March 10
Cape Lookout National Seashore Established (1966)
March 11
Save the Redwoods League Founded (1918)
March 12
Girl Scouts Founded (1912)
March 12
Charles Young, First African American National Park Superintendent, Born (1864)
March 13
National Elephant Day, Thailand
March 14
First National Wildlife Refuge Created (1903)
March 15
Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior, Born (1874)
March 16
Amoco Cadiz Runs Aground (1978)
March 17
St. Patrick and Ireland’s Snakes
March 18
Nation’s First Wildlife Refuge Created (1870)
March 19
When the Swallows Return to Capistrano
March 20
“Our Common Future” Published (1987)
March 21
International Day of Forests
March 22
World Water Day
March 23
Sitka National Historical Park Created (1910)
March 24
John Wesley Powell, Western Explorer, Born (1834)
March 25
Norman Borlaug, Father of the Green Revolution, Born (1914)
March 26
Marjorie Harris Carr, Pioneering Florida Conservationist, Born (1915)
March 26
Kruger National Park Established (1898)
March 27
Trans-Alaska Pipeline Begun (1975)
March 28
Joseph Bazalgette, London’s Sewer King, Born (1819)
March 29
Niagara Falls Stops Flowing (1848)
March 30
The United States Buys Alaska (1867)
March 31
Al Gore, Environmental Activist and U.S. Vice President, Born (1948)
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