Fielding-Druce Herbarium
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Fielding-Druce Herbarium, part of the
Department of Biology, University of Oxford The Department of Biology, established in 2022, is a science department in the University of Oxford's Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division. It was formed on 1 Au ...
, located on South Parks Road, in Oxford, England. A herbarium is a collection of herbarium sheets, with a dried pressed specimen of the botanic species, whether they were bound into a book by one dedicated individual, or have been amassed into huge collections. They are like plant ID cards. As paper was expensive, multiple specimens are normally mounted on one sheet. The 2 cores of the Herbarium collection, are bequeathed to the University from
Henry Fielding Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English novelist, irony writer, and dramatist known for earthy humour and satire. His comic novel '' Tom Jones'' is still widely appreciated. He and Samuel Richardson are seen as founders ...
(1805-1851) containing a non-British and Irish collection. It also covers most taxonomic groups and geographical areas. It is particularly rich in nineteenth century material from the Americas and south and south east Asia. The other core a British and Irish collection from
George Claridge Druce George Claridge Druce, MA, LLD, JP, FRS, FLS (23 May 1850 – 29 February 1932) was an English botanist and a Mayor of Oxford. Personal life and education G. Claridge Druce was born at Potterspury on Watling Street in Northamptonshire. ...
(1850-1932) in 1932, this is particularly rich in specimens from
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. Other collections were added later.


History

It was established in 1621, they include the oldest herbarium in the United Kingdom and the fourth oldest herbarium in the world. Collectively, they hold approximately 1,000,000 botanical specimens (including at least 35,000 types) from across all taxonomic groups and geographic regions. Four of the more significant pre-19th century herbaria are those of Robert Morison, William Sherard, Johannus Dillenius and John Sibthorp. The earliest collected plant specimens dates back to around 1606.


The collection

It includes collections from; *
Robert Morison Robert Morison (162010 November 1683) was a Scottish botanist and taxonomist. A forerunner of John Ray, he elucidated and developed the first systematic classification of plants.Vines Biography Born in Aberdeen, Morison was an outstanding ...
(1620-83); who became the first professor of botany in 1669, a post that he held until 1683. He had written several books on Botany. *
William Sherard William Sherard (27 February 1659 – 11 August 1728) was an English botanist. Next to John Ray, he was considered to be one of the outstanding English botanists of his day. Life He is still a little-known figure of that era coming as he did from ...
(1659-1728),(Sherardian Library of Plant Taxonomy) and The Sherard herbarium; he was endowed the Oxford University Chair of Botany. On his death in 1728, he left the university £3000 for the endowment of the chair, as well as his library and the herbarium. all on the condition that Dillenius should be appointed the first professor. He also left his herbarium of 12,000 sheets and his library and paintings. *
Johann Jacob Dillenius Johann Jacob Dillen Dillenius (1684 – 2 April 1747) was a German botanist. He is known for his ''Hortus Elthamensis'' ("Eltham Garden") on the rare plants around Eltham, London, and for his ''Historia muscorum'' ("History of Mosses"), a natur ...
(1684-1747), Dillenius's ''Historia Muscorum''; German born but then moved to the UK. In 1734 Dillenius was appointed Sherardian professor of botany at Oxford. His manuscripts, books and collections of dried plants, with many drawings, were bought by his successor at Oxford, Dr. Humphry Sibthorp (1713–1797), and ultimately passed into the possession of Oxford University. In 1907, G. Claridge Druce described ''The Dillenian Herbaria''. *
John Sibthorp John Sibthorp (28 October 1758 – 8 February 1796) was an English botanist. Education Sibthorp graduated from the University of Oxford in 1777 where he was an undergraduate student at Lincoln College, Oxford. He subsequently studied medic ...
(1758-1796), The Sipthorpian herbarium, His herbarium (of three collections; contains 2,462 ''Flora Graeca'' specimens, 70 ''Flora Oxoniensis'' specimens and 444 miscellaneous specimens) are stored within the Fielding-Druce Herbarium. *
William Dampier William Dampier (baptised 5 September 1651; died March 1715) was an English explorer, pirate, privateer, navigator, and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnav ...
(c. 1697–1698); The first scientific collection of flora from Western Australia was by William Dampier near
Shark Bay Shark Bay (Malgana: ''Gathaagudu'', "two waters") is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/shark-bay area is located approximately north of Perth, on the ...
and in the
Dampier Archipelago The Dampier Archipelago is a group of 42 islands near the town of Dampier in the Pilbara, Western Australia. The archipelago is also made up of reefs, shoals, channels and straits and is the traditional home of five Aboriginal language group ...
in 1699. Then when his ship
the Roebuck The Roebuck is a Grade II listed public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appea ...
was wrecked on
Ascension Island Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory o ...
, he saved his plant collection to give to the herbarium. It contains 24 sheets of Australian plant specimens. In September 1999, they were then loaned to Western Australia for the 300 year celebration. *
Jacob Bobart the Younger Jacob Bobart, the younger, (2 August 1641 – 28 December 1719), was an English botanist. Background Bobart was the younger son of Jacob Bobart. He was born at Oxford, and succeeded his father as superintendent of the Physic Garden, and on the ...
(2 August 1641 – 28 December 1719); in 1683, he lectured as botanical professor at Oxford. In 1699 he brought out the third part of Morison's ''Historia Plantarum'', *
Mark Catesby Mark Catesby (24 March 1683 – 23 December 1749) was an English naturalist who studied the flora and fauna of the New World. Between 1729 and 1747 Catesby published his ''Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands'', the fi ...
(24 March 1683 – 23 December 1749); an English naturalist who studied flora and fauna in the New World. He was recommended by William Sherard to collect. Between 1729 and 1747 Catesby published his ''Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands'', the first published account of the flora and fauna of North America. *
Aylmer Bourke Lambert Aylmer Bourke Lambert (2 February 1761 – 10 January 1842) was a British botanist, one of the first fellows of the Linnean Society. Early life Aylmer Bourke Lambert was born at Bath, England on 2 February 1761, the son of Edmund Lambert ...
(2 February 1761 – 10 January 1842); a British botanist, one of the first fellows of the
Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...
. He had acquired a number of significant herbarium collections including those of
Johann Reinhold Forster Johann Reinhold Forster (22 October 1729 – 9 December 1798) was a German Continental Reformed church, Reformed (Calvinist) pastor and natural history, naturalist of partially Scottish descent who made contributions to the early ornithology of ...
,
Archibald Menzies Archibald Menzies ( ; 15 March 1754 – 15 February 1842) was a Scottish surgeon, botanist and naturalist. He spent many years at sea, serving with the Royal Navy, private merchants, and the Vancouver Expedition. He was the first recorded Euro ...
and Henry de Ponthieu. When he died his collection of 50,000 preserved plant specimens, was auctioned in 317 lots and now specimens can be found in botanical collections around the world. Including Kew, St Petersburg, Berlin and Oxford. *
James Eustace Bagnall James Eustace Bagnall ALS (7 November 1830 – 3 September 1918) was an English naturalist with a particular interest in botany, especially bryology. He was the author of the first Flora of Warwickshire ( VC38) in 1891. A noted bryologist, h ...
(7 November 1830 – 3 September 1918); he made important contributions to the Floras of the counties surrounding his home in Birmingham. One of his earliest publications, in 1874, was a moss Flora of Warwickshire. His herbarium and papers are held by the
Library of Birmingham A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
. The National Museum and Gallery of Wales, Cardiff, has 125 of his bryological specimens. Other herbaria hold specimens he collected (including the Fielding-Druce Herbarium) *
Clarence Bicknell Clarence Bicknell (27 August 1842 – 17 July 1918) was a British vicar, amateur archaeologist, botanist, artist, Esperantist, author and philanthropist. He founded the Bicknell Museum in Bordighera, Italy. Also named after him is a street in Bor ...
(1842-1918); a British vicar, amateur archaeologist, botanist, artist, Esperantist, author and philanthropist. He founded the
Bicknell Museum The Clarence Bicknell Museum is a small concealed building at 39 Via Romana in Bordighera. This is often referred to as its official address, but the large villa is the seat of the International Institute of Ligurian Studies. To the right of the ...
in
Bordighera Bordighera (; lij, A Bordighea, locally ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Imperia, Liguria (Italy). Geography Bordighera is located from the land border between Italy and France, and it is possible to see the French coast with a nak ...
, Italy. He had collected up to 100 specimens from Italy, Majorca and Corfu. *
Maria Antonina Czaplicka Maria Antonina Czaplicka (25 October 1884 – 27 May 1921), also referred to as Marya Antonina Czaplicka and Marie Antoinette Czaplicka, was a Polish cultural anthropologist who is best known for her ethnography of Siberian shamanism. Czaplicka ...
(25 October 1884 – 27 May 1921); collected 47 botanical specimens in
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
for the herbarium


Former Staff

* Frank White, (born in
Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
5 March 1927; Demonstrator in Forest Botany, Oxford University 1948-55, University Lecturer 1955-94, Curator, Forest Herbarium 1961-92, Curator, Fielding-Druce Herbarium 1971-92, Distinguished Research Curator, Oxford University Herbaria 1992-94; died in Oxford 12 September 1994). In 1971, White was established as the Curator of the Oxford University herbaria, the Forest Herbarium and the Fielding-Druce Herbarium. These herbaria collections former the majority of his own research and while some of his curatorial duties were neglected in the process. He achieved a great deal of work.


References

See also
List of herbaria in Europe This is a list of herbaria in Europe, organized first by region where the herbarium is located (using the United Nations geoscheme for Europe), then within each region by size of the collection. For other continents, see List of herbaria. Easte ...


External links

{{Wikidata property, Q55829242 1621 establishments in England Herbaria in the United Kingdom