David Douglas (25 June 1799 â€" 12 July 1834) was a Scottish botanist,
best known as the namesake of the Douglas-fir. He worked as a
gardener, and explored the Scottish Highlands, North America, and
Hawaii, where he died. The standard author abbreviation Douglas is
used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical
name.Douglas was born in Scone, Perthshire, the second son of John
Douglas, a stonemason, and Jean Drummond. He attended Kinnoull School
and upon leaving found work as an apprentice to William Beattie, head
gardener at Scone Palace, the seat of the Earl of Mansfield. He spent
seven years in this position, completing his apprenticeship, and then
spent a winter at a college in Perth to learn more of the scientific
and mathematical aspects of plant culture. After a further spell of
working at Valleyfield House in Fife (during which time he had access
to a library of botanical and zoological books) he moved to the
Botanical Gardens of Glasgow University and attended botany lectures.
William Jackson Hooker, who was Garden Director and Professor of
Botany, was greatly impressed with him and took him on an expedition
to the Highlands before recommending him to the Royal Horticultural
Society of London.Douglas made three separate trips from Britain to
North America. His first trip, to eastern North America, began on 3
June 1823, with a return in the late autumn of 1823. The second was to
the Pacific Northwest, from July 1824 returning October 1827. His
third and final trip started in England in October 1829. On that last
journey he went first to the Columbia River, then to San Francisco,
then in August 1832, to Hawaii. In October 1832 he returned to the
Columbia River region. A year later, in October 1833, he returned to
Hawaii, arriving on 2 January 1834. The second expedition starting in
1824 was his most successful. The Royal Horticultural Society sent him
back on a plant-hunting expedition in the Pacific Northwest that ranks
among the great botanical explorations. David Douglas (botanist) Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter