Natalis menziesii

"At the present time, students, especially of botany, in the western portion of America are familiar with his name, though few of them have taken the trouble to learn about the man," wrote Edmond Meany in a footnote to Vancouver's Discovery of Puget Sound. The man he was speaking of was the botanist/surgeon Archibald Menzies, born 255 years ago today, whose name is commemorated in that of several North American plants. In the interest of taking at least a little trouble to become acquainted, here is a link to a short biography which touches on the key events of Menzies' life, including his time on the West Coast.

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The pictures are two of the California species which have borrowed Menzies' name. The orange fiddleneck is Amsinckia menziesii (if I am right; there are a couple of close relations around here as well). The baby blue-eyes are Nemophilia menzenzii.

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The linguistic sidenote--it's pronounced "ming-iss". The reason? In times past, that "z" was a "yogh", a yogh of the "y" variety, and when you put "n" and "3" together, it confuses into a bit of an "ng". The Scottish company John Menzies PLC offers a useful poem on the subject:

A lively young damsel named Menzies

Inquired: "Do you know what this thenzies?"

Her aunt, with a gasp,

Replied: "It's a wasp,

And you're holding the end where the stenzies."

David Douglas

Back in March, I put up a post about Archibald Menzies. Today is the birthday of one of the other great names of California botany, David Douglas (born 1799), who was Menzies's contemporary and worked in many of the same areas from California, to British Columbia, to Hawaii. A reading of his short biography will probably dispell any impressions that old-time botany was a career for the timid.

Further reading: Google Books offers the entire text of David Douglas, Botanist at Hawaii by William Frederick Wilson. I haven't read it yet, other than browsing through it, but it looks quite worthwhile, being various contemporary memories of the botanist, as well as some extracts from his own correspondence.

(Since I come from Tehachapi, the Douglas-associated plant which leaps most readily to mind is the blue oak (pictured) which is Quercus douglasii in scientific terms.)

Belated

I knew it was Archibald Menzies' birthday yesterday, but I ran out of time to say so. I didn't know, however, that among the plants named after this scientific explorer of the west coast is a type of kelp. There's a little article (and pictures) on that here, at a thoroughly fascinating blog that concentrates on the natural history of a single location on the California coast. The variety shown in this blog coupled with the bizarre antics of the peacock spider that I mentioned last post are enough to confirm in anyone (well, me, anyway) a likely incurable case of natural history; so much amazement can be found in such a small area, be it a single beach or a single bush.

Twice-Discovered

This short first-person article by Henry Noltie offers a reader the vicarious pleasure of hunting through the archives of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. (And, wow! did Archibald Menzies have stunning handwriting. It was gorgeous and legible.)