John Lindley (1799-1865)

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FEATURE

John Lindley (1799-1865)

David R. Hershey

Department of Horticulture, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-5611

Lindley, one of the most remarkable horti-

culturists of the 19th century, was born on 5

Feb. 1799 at Catton, near Norwich, England.

His father was a skillful but financially un-

successful nurseryman. Lindley, an enthusi-

astic and successful student, was unable to go

to college because of his family’s financial

situation, but his astounding ability for hard

work enabled him to become one of the most

productive plant scientists of his time. At age

16, Lindley went to Belgium as a seedman’s

representative, because his father lacked the

money to buy him an officer’s commission in

the army. He worked with his father for a few

years upon his return and became acquainted

with botanist William Hooker.

Lindley demonstrated his capacity for

sustained work by translating the French book

Analyse du Fruit into English in one sitting of

three days and two nights, despite blindness in

one eye. His translation, Observations on the

Structure of Fruits, was published in 1819.

Lindley hoped to become a plant collector to

Sumatra, and as preparation for the rigors of

the trip, he slept on the bare floor.

Lindley had several careers, most of them

simultaneously. He was a prominent member

of the London Horticultural Society for 40

years, serving as its secretary from 1858 until

his death; the first professor of botany at the

Univ. of London, a position he held for 40

years; editor of the Botanical Register for 18

years and the influential Gardener’s Chronicle,

a publication he cofounded with Sir Joseph

Paxton, for 25 years; and professor of botany

and director of the Physic Garden for the

Society of Apothecaries for 18 years.

In addition to his official duties, Lindley

played a major role in saving Kew Gardens

from being closed by- the government as a

budget-cutting measure. His work led to con-

version of the gardens to a public institution

for horticultural display, research, and educa-

tion. He was frequently consulted by the British

government on matters ranging from the Irish

potato famine to the vegetation of Ascension

Island to fraud in horticulture. In 1830 he

organized the first exhibition of flowers and

fruits in England for the London Horticultural

Society, the forerunner of today’s Chelsea

flower show. He was a juror of food products

for the Great Exhibition of 1851 and superin-

tended the horticultural exhibits of the Great

International Exhibition of 1862. He success-

fully crusaded to repeal the glass tax, enabling

wider use of greenhouses.

Received for publication 12 June 1992.

960

Lindley was a prolific writer and editor,

with a bibliography of more than 230 technical

and popular articles and books. In 1820 Lindley

published Rosarum Monographia, followed in

1821 by Digitalium Monographia. He next

edited William Cattley 's  Collectanea Botanica.

These works, along with his numerous articles

in the Botanical Register, quickly gave Lindley

an international reputation. His book, The

Theory of Horticulture (1840) and its revi-

sions, is considered the first modem book on

horticultural science and is applicable to hor-

ticulture today. Lindley describes many “re-

cent” innovations, including the use of bottom

heat and nontraditional plant containers to

prevent root circling or what Lindley termed

“corkscrew roots” (Fig. 1). He begins the

chapter on potting with: “When a plant is

forced to grow in a . . . garden pot, its condition

is exceedingly different from that to which it

would be naturally exposed. The roots, instead

of having the power of spreading constantly

outwards, and away from their original start-

ing point, are constrained to grow back upon

themselves; the supply of food is comparatively

uncertain, and they are usually exposed to

fluctuations of temperature and moisture un-

known in a natural condition.”

Lindley’s pioneering works on orchid

taxonomy earned him the title “father of modern

orchidology.” His books included Genera and

Species of Orchidaceous Plants (1830-40) and

Folia Orchidacea (1852-59). His botanical

texts promoted the natural system of plant

classification. He named innumerable new

species discovered by plant explorers and

started the practice of ending plant family

names in “aceae.” He guided plant collectors

with his 1822 article “Instructions for Packing

Living Plants in Foreign Countries,” which

was replaced only by Ward’s invention of the

Wardian case or terrarium in 1840.

Lindley was elected a Fellow of the Royal

Society in 1828 and received their Royal Medal

in 1857 for raising horticulture “from the

condition of an empirical art to that of a de-

veloped science.” In 1832 the Univ. of Munich

granted him an honorary PhD. Overwork as-

sociated with the 1862 exhibition caused

Lindley’s health to decline. He died on 1 Nov.

1865. His private library formed the Lindley

library of the Royal Horticultural Society,

London. His orchid collection was housed at

the Kew herbarium and his general herbarium

at the Univ. of Cambridge.

Despite his many accomplishments in and

contributions to the science of horticulture,

Lindley 's pioneering books are virtually never

cited by today’s horticultural textbooks. Per-

haps, his inductioninto the ASHS Horticultural

Hall of Fame will help contemporary textbook

authors rediscover John Lindley and introduce

him to today’s students of horticulture.

Fig. 1. Twisted or corkscrew root of Pinus

laricio grown in a pot [from The Theory and

Practice of Horticulture (1855)].

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References

Earl of Morton. 1965. John Lindley. J. Royal Hort.

Soc. 90:457-462.

Encyclopedia Britannica. 1981. Lindley, John. En-

cyclopedia Britannica Micropaedia. 6:236.

Gardener, J. 1965. John Lindley. Gardeners’ Chron.

158:406,409,430,434,451,457,476,481,502,

507,526.

Gardeners’ Chronicle. 1865. The late Dr. Lindley

(obituary). Gardeners’ Chron. p. 105-1059,

1082-1083.

Green, J.R. 1914. John Lindley and the vegetable

kingdom, p. 336-353. In: J.R. Green (ed.). A

history of botany in the United Kingdom from

the earliest time to the end of the 19th century.

E.P. Dutton, New York.

Keeble, F. 1913. John Lindley, p. 162-177. In: F.W.

Oliver (ed.). Makers of British botany. Cam-

bridge University Press, London.

Lemmon, K. 1968. The golden age of plant hunters.

Phoenix House, London.

Lindley, J. 1831. Introduction, p. v-xxvii. In: G.

Lindley. A guide to the orchard and kitchen

garden. Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans,

London.

Lindley, J. 1855. The theory and practiceof horticul-

ture; or an attempt to explain the chief operations

of gardening upon physiological grounds.

Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, London.

Mea, A. 1967. The Hookers of Kew. Michael Jo-

seph, London.

Reeve, L.A. 1866. Portraits of men of eminence in

literature, science and art. vol. 4. Alfred William

Bennett, London.

Reinikka, M.A. 1964. John Lindley-Father of

modern orchidology. Amer. Orchid Soc. Bul.

33:564-568.

Steam, W.T. 1965. The self-taught botanists who

saved the Kew Botanic Garden. Taxon 14:293-

298.

Stearn, W.T. 1973. Lindley, John, p. 371-373. In:

C.C. Gillispie (ed.). Dictionary of scientific bi-

ography. vol. 8. Scribner’s, New York.

Stearn, W.T. 1986. Botanical Latin. 3rd ed.,revised.

David & Charles, London.

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