KingG

Career

Collecting localities

Collections

Literature

Biographical data

King, Sir George

(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 1: Cyclopaedia of collectors)

Born: 1840, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Died: 1909, San Remo, Italy.

career:

Reached Calcutta in March 1866 and joined the Indian Medical Service; in 1868 in charge of the Botanical Garden at Saharanpur, from 1871-98 Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta; since 1891 besides Director of the Botanical Survey of India, and from 1871-95 Professor at the Medical College of Bengal; he retired in 1898.

In 1879 he went to Java in connection with Cinchona culture¹ and visited the Malay Peninsula on his voyage there and back.

Founder of, and chief contributor to, the Annals of the Roy. Bot. Gard. Calcutta. His papers are mainly dealing with the flora of the Malay Peninsula and British India.²

Several ferns were named after him.

Collecting localities:

1879. Malay Peninsula: P. Penang (Aug.), Singapore, and Johoro Bahru (Jaffaria) (Aug.-Sept.); W. Java: Tjinjiroean (on the slope of G. Malabar), G. Tangkoeban Prahoe (Oct. 13); Malay Peninsula: Malacca and Penang (Nov.).

He is cited to have collected Pycnarrhena lucida at Kota Djawa in Lampong Districts, S. Sumatra;³ possibly on the way to or from Java.

collections:

Herb. Calcutta [CAL]; Herb. Kew [K]: India, Malaya, etc. 8289 nos (pres. 1875-97); Herb. Brit. Mus. [BM]: 6391 Indian and Malayan plants (pres. at various intervals from 1886); Herb. Berl. [B]: Malay Archipelago (coll. 1879); Herb. Sing. [SING]: 318 nos from Perak (nothing is know of a visit to Perak!) and India (pres. 1893), also nos from Java; Herb. Leiden [L]; Herb. Decand. (Geneva [G]); Herb. Bot. Gard. St Petersb. (= Leningrad [LE]): 172 from Mal. Archipelago.

Occasionally Philippine plants attributed to him are mentioned. As nothing is known of a voyage of his to the Philippine islands, it is supposed that these specimens are Calcutta duplicates distributed by King, but not collected by himself.

literature:

(1) G. King: ‘Cinchona cultivation in Java’ (Ind. Forester 5, 1880, p. 422-428).
(2) E.g. King & Gamble: ‘Materials for a flora of the Malay Peninsula’ (1889-1915, 5 vols, published in Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 1889 →).
(3) cf. Diels in Pflanzenreich Heft 46, p. 49.

biographical data:

Wittrock, Icon. Bot. Berg., 1903, p. 158; l.c. 2, 1905, p. 172; Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. 1908/09, p. 42-45; Kew Bull. 1909, p. 68-72, 193-197, incl. bibliogr.; Journ. Bot. 47, 1909, p. 120-122, w. portr.; Curtis’ Bot. Magaz. Dedications 1827-1927, p. 207-208 + portr.; Nature 79, 1909, p. 493-494; in Biogr. Index Britten & Boulger, 2nd ed. by Rendle, 1931; Backer, Verkl. Woordenb., 1936.

	Career Collecting localities Collections Literature Biographical data
	King, Sir George
	(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 1: Cyclopaedia of collectors)
	Born: 1840, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Died: 1909, San Remo, Italy.
	career: Reached Calcutta in March 1866 and joined the Indian Medical Service; in 1868 in charge of the Botanical Garden at Saharanpur, from 1871-98 Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta; since 1891 besides Director of the Botanical Survey of India, and from 1871-95 Professor at the Medical College of Bengal; he retired in 1898. In 1879 he went to Java in connection with Cinchona culture¹ and visited the Malay Peninsula on his voyage there and back. Founder of, and chief contributor to, the Annals of the Roy. Bot. Gard. Calcutta. His papers are mainly dealing with the flora of the Malay Peninsula and British India.² Several ferns were named after him.
	Collecting localities: 1879. Malay Peninsula: P. Penang (Aug.), Singapore, and Johoro Bahru (Jaffaria) (Aug.-Sept.); W. Java: Tjinjiroean (on the slope of G. Malabar), G. Tangkoeban Prahoe (Oct. 13); Malay Peninsula: Malacca and Penang (Nov.). He is cited to have collected Pycnarrhena lucida at Kota Djawa in Lampong Districts, S. Sumatra;³ possibly on the way to or from Java.
	collections: Herb. Calcutta [CAL]; Herb. Kew [K]: India, Malaya, etc. 8289 nos (pres. 1875-97); Herb. Brit. Mus. [BM]: 6391 Indian and Malayan plants (pres. at various intervals from 1886); Herb. Berl. [B]: Malay Archipelago (coll. 1879); Herb. Sing. [SING]: 318 nos from Perak (nothing is know of a visit to Perak!) and India (pres. 1893), also nos from Java; Herb. Leiden [L]; Herb. Decand. (Geneva [G]); Herb. Bot. Gard. St Petersb. (= Leningrad [LE]): 172 from Mal. Archipelago. Occasionally Philippine plants attributed to him are mentioned. As nothing is known of a voyage of his to the Philippine islands, it is supposed that these specimens are Calcutta duplicates distributed by King, but not collected by himself.
	literature: (1) G. King: ‘Cinchona cultivation in Java’ (Ind. Forester 5, 1880, p. 422-428). (2) E.g. King & Gamble: ‘Materials for a flora of the Malay Peninsula’ (1889-1915, 5 vols, published in Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 1889 →). (3) cf. Diels in Pflanzenreich Heft 46, p. 49.
	biographical data: Wittrock, Icon. Bot. Berg., 1903, p. 158; l.c. 2, 1905, p. 172; Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. 1908/09, p. 42-45; Kew Bull. 1909, p. 68-72, 193-197, incl. bibliogr.; Journ. Bot. 47, 1909, p. 120-122, w. portr.; Curtis’ Bot. Magaz. Dedications 1827-1927, p. 207-208 + portr.; Nature 79, 1909, p. 493-494; in Biogr. Index Britten & Boulger, 2nd ed. by Rendle, 1931; Backer, Verkl. Woordenb., 1936.