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BROWN, Robert : On the Proteaceae of Jussieu (BOUND WITH) an Account of a New Genus of Plants Named Rafflesia

Linnaean Society, London 1810 and 1821

Extracted from Volumes 10 and 13 of the Transactions of the Linnaean Society, and bound together in the late 19th century in 1/2 brown morocco, cloth boards, marbled endpapers. In fine state. The plates to the proteaceae are foxed. The plates to the Rafflesia are in fine state, with the striking colour-printed plate in choice condition. "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 quarter of 1809, and published in March 1810. It is significant for its contribution to the systematics of Proteaceae, and to the floristics of Australia, and also for its application of palynology to systematics.. Shortly after the reading of "On the natural order of plants called Proteaceae", but before it appeared in print, there appeared a publication that started one of the most bitter disputes in 19th century botany. This was On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae, ostensibly by Joseph Knight. Despite the title, this paper contained only 13 pages related to cultivation techniques, but over 100 pages of taxonomic revision. Although not explicitly attributed, it was widely believed, and is still so, that this revision was contributed by Richard Salisbury, who had been present at all four of the meetings at which Brown read his paper. The revision contains many of the plant names that Brown had presented to the Linnean Society; for example, the genera Petrophile, Isopogon and Grevillea. Thus Salisbury beat Brown to print, claiming priority for the names that Brown had authored. Salisbury is also accused of having appropriated some of Brown's observations; for example, in the Linnean Society copy of Knight's paper, where Salisbury says that he suspects that the fruit of Persoonia is unusual, Brown has pencilled in "He suspects it because he listened very attentively to my paper when read at the Linnean Society." Salisbury was accused of plagiarism and ostracised from botanical circles. Contemporary notes and letters indicate widespread condemnation of Salisbury's actions. For example, Samuel Goodenough 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 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.". Rafflesia is a genus of parasitic flowering plants. It contains approximately 28 species all found in southeastern Asia, on the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, and the Philippines. Rafflesia was found in the Indonesian rain forest by an Indonesian guide working for Dr. Joseph Arnold in 1818, and named after Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the leader of the expedition. The generic name, Rafflesia (given in honour of Sir Raffles), proposed by Brown (who had originally wanted to call it Arnoldii) after Joseph Arnold, was validated by S.F. Gray in his report of the June 1820 meeting of the Linnean Society of London, as published in the Annals of Philosophy in September that year. While the species Rafflesia arnoldii was officially described for the first time in 1821 by Brown, so that Arnold was commemorated after all.

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