William Grant Milne (11 May 1829,

Banff, Aberdeenshire Banff ( gd, Banbh) is a town in the Banff and Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is situated on Banff Bay and faces the town of Macduff across the estuary of the River Deveron. It is a former royal burgh, and is the county town of ...

– 1866), was a Scottish botanist. A

gardener A gardener is someone who practices gardening, either professionally or as a hobby. Description A gardener is any person involved in gardening, arguably the oldest occupation, from the hobbyist in a residential garden, the home-owner supplem ...

at the

Edinburgh Botanic Garden The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies ...

, Milne joined the expedition to the southwestern Pacific (1852–1856) as a botanist. The expedition visited, inter alia,

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland P ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Milne was initially accompanied by fellow Scots botanist

John MacGillivray John MacGillivray (18 December 1821 – 6 June 1867) was a Scottish naturalist, active in Australia between 1842 and 1867. MacGillivray was born in Aberdeen, the son of ornithologist William MacGillivray. He took part in three of the Royal ...

, who left the ship in 1855 after a dispute with Captain

Henry Mangles Denham Vice Admiral Sir Henry Mangles Denham (28 August 1800 – 3 July 1887) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station. Early career Denham entered the navy in 1809. He served on from 1810 to 1814, initially u ...

. Milne, the discoverer of several plants, including the rare New Caledonian tree '' Meryta denhamii'' which he found growing on the Isle of Pines in 1853 and sent to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, had botanist

Berthold Carl Seemann Berthold Carl Seemann (25 February 1825, in Hanover, Germany – 10 October 1871, in Nicaragua, Central America), was a German botanist. He travelled widely and collected and described plants from the Pacific and South America. In 1844 he trave ...

name the plant ''Meryta denhamii'' after Captain Denham (for whom the town of Denham, Western Australia was also named). The plant was described from specimens that had flowered in a greenhouse in Kew in 1860. ''The Times'' of London mentions in its 14 March 1866 edition that "Professor Milne, the celebrated botanist, has commenced the ascension of the Cameroons mountains".

Eponyms

* '' Asplenium milnei'' Carruth. (specimen from Lord Howe Island) * ''

Stenocarpus ''Stenocarpus'' is a genus of about 22 species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. They are trees or shrubs with variably-shaped leaves, Floral symmetry#Zygomorphic, zygomorphic, Plant reproductive morphology#Bisexual, bisexual flo ...

milnei'' Hook. (specimen from New Caledonia) * ''Freycinetia milnei'' Seem. (specimen from Fiji)

References

* A.E.Orchard (1999) 'A History of Systematic Botany in Australia', in ''Flora of Australia'' Vol.1, 2nd ed., ABRS. {{DEFAULTSORT:Milne, William Grant 1866 deaths Explorers of Australia Royal Navy officers Scottish sailors 19th-century Scottish botanists 1829 births

Eponyms

See also

References