Our research into the lives and
careers of plant explorers like Mark Catesby (portrayed
right) allow us to identify those plants believed to be as similar
as possible to those species, native and imported, which were known and
used in colonial Tidewater Virginia. Catesby, an English native, spent the
better part of his adult years classifying the flora of the New World.
Calycanthus floridus, Carolina Allspice
Plant explorers like John Tradescant the Younger,
John Clayton, the Rev. John Banister (a protégé of Bishop
Compton of London and the rector of Westover Church in Charles City County)
and Mark Catesby were amazed at the diversity of flora in the New World
and helped to fuel interest in it on the part of their subscribers and patrons
in Europe. The plant exchange between the Old and New Worlds was vigorous
and resulted in both continents greatly adding to their stocks of cultivated
varieties.
Our research into the lives and
careers of plant explorers like Mark Catesby (portrayed
right) allow us to identify those plants believed to be as similar
as possible to those species, native and imported, which were known and
used in colonial Tidewater Virginia. Catesby, an English native, spent the
better part of his adult years classifying the flora of the New World.
Historic Triangle