On the Discovery of Eastern Leatherwood (Dirca palustris)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v126i1.1315Abstract
The existing scientific literature dates the discovery of Eastern Leatherwood (Dirca palustris L.) to the 1730s and assigns John Clayton, a plant collector in the Virginia Colony, and Dutch botanist Jan Frederik Gronovius as the discoverers. But Michel Sarrazin, an early Canadian naturalist, was apparently the first to report on this species in 1700. Moreover, he also sent a living specimen of leatherwood to France. This case reminds us that the earliest information on some North American species predates the Linnaean binomial name.
La littérature scientifique courante attribue la découverte du bois de plomb (Dirca palustris L.) dans les années 1730 à John Clayton, un collectionneur de plantes dans la colonie de Virginie, et au botaniste hollandais Jan Frederik Gronovius. Cependant, le premier rapport sur cette espèce a été rédigé en 1700 par Michel Sarrazin, l’un des premiers naturalistes canadiens. En outre, il a envoyé un spécimen vivant de bois de plomb en France. Ce cas nous rappelle que les premières informations sur certaines espèces d’Amérique du Nord précèdent le nom binomial linnéen.
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