John Banister (naturalist)
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John Baptist Banister (1654 – May 1692) was an
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
and one of the first university-trained naturalists in North America. His primary focus was
botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
but he also studied insects and molluscs. He was sent out as a missionary chaplain by the garden-loving Bishop Henry Compton, with whom he soon established a correspondence. Banister was first in
Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...
in the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
and then by April 1679 in
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, where, while serving a rector of the parish of Charles City he became one of Bishop Compton's most energetic
plant collector Plant collecting is the acquisition of plant specimens for the purposes of research, cultivation, or as a hobby. Plant specimens may be kept alive, but are more commonly dried and pressed to preserve the quality of the specimen. Plant collecting i ...
s, "the first Virginia botanist of any note". Banister matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he could see and study the American plants grown from seed in the Oxford Physic Garden under the care of Dr.
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 ...
. From Virginia, his first letter to Dr Morison at the Oxford Physic Garden was dated 1679: in it he listed the bounty of American oaks that would supplement Britain's impoverished flora: dwarf, black, white, red, Spanish, chestnut, live or willow, shrubby. The historian of American gardens Ann Leighton surmises that Banister's list of Virginian timber trees provided some of the material for
John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's diary, or ...
's list of desirable plants of Virginia and New England, intended to be given to a captain sailing for New England. Once settled in Virginia, where he purchased a tract of on the Appomattox River in 1689/90, he established a close friendship with William Byrd of Westover, an influential Virginia planter with botanical connections in London. By 1692 Banister had become a substantial figure in Virginia, one of the founders of the
College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William I ...
in Williamsburg that year; Bishop Compton was on the college's board of overseers. Banister contemplated writing a
natural history of Virginia Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...
; perhaps it was as a preliminary gesture he sent some fine botanical drawings and herbarium specimens to the botanist
James Petiver James Petiver (c. 1665 – c. 2 April 1718) was a London apothecary, a fellow of the Royal Society as well as London's informal Temple Coffee House Botany Club, famous for his specimen collections in which he traded and study of botany and entom ...
, a London apothecary and
Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...
. According to Jon Kukla Robert Beverley's ''History and Present State of Virginia'' (London, 1705) reproduced extensive passages on natural history and the Indians from manuscripts of Banister. Banister sent numerous occasional papers to the
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
that were published in its '' Philosophical Transactions'', providing "the first scientific account for Virginia in the field of descriptive
botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
, entomology, and malacology. His letter describing '' Mutinus elegans'', a stinkhorn, is thought to be the first report of a fungus from North America. Among them were "Observations on the natural productions of Jamaica"; "The Insects of Virginia" (with James Petiver,1700); "Curiosities in Virginia"; "Observations on the ''Musca lupus''"; "On Several Sorts of Snails" ; and "A Description of the Snakeroot, Pistolochia or Serpentaria Virginiania." He compiled a catalogue of American plants, the first ''
flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...
'' of North America; it was published in the second volume of John Ray's ''Historia Plantarum'' (London, 1688-1704), a comprehensive catalog of plant
taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...
. He was accidentally shot dead by Jacob Colson while exploring the lower
Roanoke River The Roanoke River ( ) runs long through southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina in the United States. A major river of the southeastern United States, it drains a largely rural area of the coastal plain from the eastern edge of the Ap ...
in company with some men of Byrd's entourage. John Lawson in his ''New Voyage to Carolina'' saluted Banister's memory in 1709, as "the greatest '' Virtuoso'' we ever had on this Continent". Notable plants he collected and sent to his bishop, Henry Compton, in England included balsam fir (''
Abies balsamea ''Abies balsamea'' or balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada ( Newfoundland west to central Alberta) and the northeastern United States (Minnesota east to Maine, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to ...
''), box elder ('' Acer negundo''), honey locust (''
Gleditsia triacanthos The honey locust (''Gleditsia triacanthos''), also known as the thorny locust or thorny honeylocust, is a deciduous tree in the family Fabaceae, native to central North America where it is mostly found in the moist soil of river valleys. Honey ...
''), liquidambar (''
Liquidambar styraciflua American sweetgum (''Liquidambar styraciflua''), also known as American storax, hazel pine, bilsted, redgum, satin-walnut, star-leaved gum, alligatorwood, or simply sweetgum, is a deciduous tree in the genus ''Liquidambar'' native to warm temper ...
''), scarlet oak (''
Quercus coccinea ''Quercus coccinea'', the scarlet oak, is a deciduous tree in the red oak section ''Lobatae'' of the genus ''Quercus'', in the family Fagaceae. It is primarily distributed in the central and eastern United States. It occurs on dry, sandy, usual ...
''), and Sweetbay magnolia (''
Magnolia virginiana ''Magnolia virginiana'', most commonly known as sweetbay magnolia, or merely sweetbay (also laurel magnolia, swampbay, swamp magnolia, white bay, or beaver tree), is a member of the magnolia family, Magnoliaceae. It was the first magnolia to be ...
''). Banister's library in Virginia was dispersed after his deathLeighton 1976:84 notes that Banister's copy of John Parkinson's ''Theatrum Botanicum'' had recently surfaced. and his lists and papers found their way to publication through other botanists, beginning with James Petiver, whose ''Museum Petiveranum'' gives 65 common names for Banister's plants sent to Bishop Compton, where Banister's Virginian trees were flourishing in the gardens of
Fulham Palace Fulham Palace, in Fulham, London, previously in the former English county of Middlesex, is a Grade I listed building with medieval origins and was formerly the principal residence of the Bishop of London. The site was the country home of the ...
. Banister was commemorated by
Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
who gave the name ''Banisteria'' to a tropical genus of Malpighiaceae. ''Banisteriopsis'' also references Banister's name; the two genera are very close relatives and are sometimes merged under the older name ''Banisteria''. His grandson, Col. John Banister, was one of the prominent Virginians of the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
.


Notes


References

*Coats, Alice M. (1964, 1992) ''Garden Shrubs and Their Histories''. Simon & Schuster. *Ewan, Joseph and Nesta Ewan (1992). "John Banister, Virginia's First Naturalist", ''Banisteria'', Number 1. *Ewan, Joseph and Nesta Ewan (1970). ''John Banister and His Natural History of Virginia 1678-1692'' University of Illinois Press. *Kastner, Joseph (1977). ''A Species of Eternity''. Knopf. *Lewis, Ivey F. (1958). "Seventeenth Century Science in Old Virginia". ''Virginia Journal of Science'', V8(1). *Petersen, Ronald H. (2001). ''New World Botany: Columbus to Darwin''.


External links

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John Banister
at
Encyclopedia Virginia Virginia Humanities (VH), formerly the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, is a humanities council whose stated mission is to develop the civic, cultural, and intellectual life of the Commonwealth of Virginia by creating learning opportunities f ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banister, John 17th-century English botanists 1650 births 1692 deaths People from Charles City, Virginia