''On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae'' is an 1809 paper on the family

Proteaceae The Proteaceae form a family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genera with about 1,660 known species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae, they make up the order Pro ...

of flowering plants. Although nominally written by Joseph Knight as a paper on cultivation techniques, all but 13 pages consists of an unattributed taxonomic revision now known to have been written by Richard Salisbury. Publication of the paper triggered one of the most bitter disputes in 19th century botany, because Salisbury had preempted the publication of numerous plant names that Robert Brown had intended to publish. Brown's paper had already been read to the

Linnean Society of London 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 ...

, at meeting which Salisbury had attended, but his paper had not yet made it to print. In publishing this paper before Brown's ''

On the natural order of plants called Proteaceae ''On the natural order of plants called Proteaceae'', also published as "On the Proteaceae of Jussieu", was a paper written by Robert Brown on the taxonomy of the plant family Proteaceae. It was read to the Linnean Society of London in the first ...

'' had been printed, Salisbury beat Brown to print, claiming priority for the names that Brown had authored. As a result of this, Salisbury was accused of

plagiarism Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thought ...

and ostracised from botanical circles. Contemporary notes and letters indicate widespread condemnation of Salisbury's actions. For example,

Samuel Goodenough Samuel Goodenough ( – 12 August 1827) was the Bishop of Carlisle from 1808 until his death in 1827, and an amateur botanist and collector. He is honoured in the scientific names of the plant genus ''Goodenia'' and the red-capped robin (''Petro ...

wrote "How shocked was I to see Salisbury's surreptitious anticipation of Brown's paper on new Holland plants, under the name and disguise of Mr. Hibbert's gardener! Oh it is too bad!"; and

James Edward Smith James Edward Smith may refer to: * James Edward Smith (botanist), English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society * James Edward Smith (murderer), American murderer * James Edward Smith (politician), Canadian businessman and mayor of Toronto * ...

wrote that he had a copy of Knight's paper "but shall not keep it — I mean hereafter not to notice it or any other of the author's productions." Brown himself wrote of Salisbury "I scarcely know what to think of him except that he stands between a rogue and a fool." Initially, Salisbury's names were ignored in favour of Brown's names. When the

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

of generic names was introduced in the 1900s, Brown's genera were formally conserved. However it was not possible to conserve species names until the 1980s, by which time the priority of Salisbury's species names had long been accepted. Thus ''On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae'' is the source of numerous names of Proteaceae taxa.

References

* * * {{Authority control 1809 works Botanical literature Biology papers Works involved in plagiarism controversies Proteaceae Works originally published in British magazines Works originally published in science and technology magazines