sign in sign up
<<
Home , Arboretum, Koelreuteria paniculata

On the History of the Introduction of Woody into North America

Al fred Rehder

This is one of the very few popular articles that Alfred Rehder ever wrote. While initially written in English in the early 1930s, it was never published because American horticultural magazines considered it too technical. Faced with this rebuff, Rehder published the article in in 1932. In 1936, the librarian, Miss Ethelyn M. Tucker, translated the article back into English for publication in the National Horticultural Magazine. While our knowledge of the history of the introduction of plants has increased considerably since Rehder’s time, this work is still of value because it provides a firm foundation for future studies.

The introduction of North American woody at since pioneers in a strange land have a hard plants into has been treated frequently, struggle for existence and are forced to seek while of the introduction of woody plants first to assure for themselves the necessities from other countries into North America of life, and only with increasing wealth and almost nothing has as yet been written. It security of possessions do they find leisure to will, therefore, be appropriate to give here a think of beautifying their surroundings. brief sketch as to when and how foreign and The first introduced into the New also western American woody plants reached World was the peach, which as early as the the of eastern North America, as well 16th century was brought into Florida by the as to mention the earliest and the most impor- Spaniards; from there it spread west and north tant gardens and arboreta. and was planted by the white settlers as well The history of the introduction of ligneous as by the Indians. The introduction of woody plants into North America may be divided plants in the North began in the first half of into three periods, the first of which embraces the 17th century. The first account of this we the time from the arrival of the first European find in Josselyn (New Rarities Dis- settlers up to the middle of the 18th century. covered, published in 1672; and Account of This period is characterized by the fact that Two Voyages to New England in 1638 and the introduction of European woody plants is 1663, published in 1674) where he mentions restricted chiefly to fruit and other use- the apple, pear, quince, cherry, plum, and bar- ful plants with the addition of but a few berry as thriving in New England; he men- ornamental shrubs. This is not to be wondered tions also Salvia of ficinalis and remarks that Artemisia abrotanum, rosemary, and lavender Volume 6(4, 5): 13-23, 1946. were not suited to the climate of New 24

England, which shows that their introduction stand today, preserved in their original was attemnted, but was successful only in the form. The second man is Robert Prince. who southern states. Of ornamental shrubs he in the year 1730 founded a nursery in Flush- mentions only the rose. We can, however, be ing, Long Island, which has been managed almost certain that some other ornamental continuously through five generations of the shrubs, such as the lilac, snowball (Viburnum same family. Although in the beginning opulus f. roseum) and box had already in the intended only for the raising of fruit trees, the second half of the 17th century been found management gradually broadened to include here and there, as in the garden of Van Cort- ornamental trees and shrubs, and since 1793 landt in Croton on Hudson established the nursery has been continued under the shortly after 1681, and in that of Peter name Linnean Botanic Garden. From the cata- Stuyvesant in New Amsterdam (New York) logues which were issued it is evident what which was established somewhat earlier; but foreign trees and shrubs were in commerce at as to what other plants these gardens may that time; from the catalogue of 1790 the fol- have contained we have no knowledge. The lowing plants may be mentioned, though only sources of information concerning the garden the English names are given: Cotinus cog- plants of this period are very few and unrelia- gygria, paniculata, Colutea ble ; it is, however, to be assumed that some arborescens, , Populus native ligneous plants also were cultivated, nigra var. italica, Viburnum opulus f. sterile, especially shade trees such as sugar , Hibiscus syriacus. In the earlier Prince estate elm (Ulmus americana), red , and farther still stand the oldest specimens in America south Catalpa. Here, too, it may be men- of the cedar of Lebanon and Atlas cedar, tioned that in the year 1645 Endicott, Gover- Paulownia, the copper , Asiatic magno- nor of , introduced Genista lias, and others. tinctoria as a dye , which soon escaped Toward the middle of the 18th century, from cultivation and is now thoroughly wealthy landowners, especially in Pennsylva- naturalized in eastern Massachusetts. nia and , began to lay out large gardens The second period is characterized by the in which among other things one finds box, introduction of an ever-increasing number of lilac, , and Salix babylonica. ornamental trees and shrubs, exclusively, ’s garden at Mount Vernon, begun however, from European gardens, and may be about 1760, was one of the most important considered as extending from the middle of and contained many American and foreign the 18th to the middle of the 19th century. In trees and shrubs. One other very rich garden this period two men are outstanding figures, was laid out some years later by William pioneers in garden-craft. One is John Bartram, Hamilton on his estate, "The ," who in 1728 established a botanic garden at near . This estate was later con- Kinsessing near Philadelphia, where he verted into a cemetery, "Woodlands planted and cultivated American trees and Cemetery ;’ in which today many of the trees shrubs, which he had collected in his travels planted by Hamilton still stand, among them extending from Lake Ontario to Florida. He the first Ginkgo in America which was was in active communication with England planted in 1784. Humphry Marshall, inspired and introduced many American plants there; by his cousin, John Bartram, began in 1773 the in exchange he received plants from European foundation of an arboretum in Bradford, now gardens and propagated them in America. Marshallton, in . In 1785 he pub- Among these may be mentioned the horse lished his "Arbustrum Americanum’ the first chestnut, which probably came to America in work written by an American on American the year 1746. His work was continued by his trees and shrubs. Many of the trees which sons, John and William. Bartram’s house and Marshall planted stand today. The first actual 25

A view of the Elgin Botanic Garden in New York City, established by Dr. David Hosack in 1801. Tbday Rock- efeller Center in midtown Manhattan occupies the site on which the Garden once stood. From the Archives of the Gray Herbanum. botanic garden in America was founded in Elgin Botanic Garden: Vitex negundo var. 1801 by David Hosack in New York under the incisa, Eriobotrya japonica, and Thuia orien- name "Elgin Botanic Garden." In the year 1810 talis. Other eastern Asiatic trees and shrubs it was taken over by the state of New York and listed in Prince’s catalogue for 1828 are Ulmus later transferred to Columbia University, but parvi folia and Wisteria sinensis. In the year was finally discontinued for want of funds. 1806 an expedition under command of Lewis The second edition of the catalogue of this and Clark, sent to the west coast by the garden in 1811 contained many European and government, brought back to a number of Asiatic trees and shrubs, among the East the first western American plants, which are Gleditsia sinensis, spec- which were distributed by Macmahon and tabilis, Rosa multiflora, liliflora, Philip Landreth, two in Philadel- Hydrangea macrophylla (H. opuloides), phia ; by far the most important woody plants Sophora japonica, and Aucuba japonica, the so brought were Mahonia aquifolium, Ribes last two grown as plants. A second aureum, and Ribes sanguineum. At the begin- botanic garden was established at the begin- ning of the 19th century, a greatly increased ning of the 19th century in Cambridge, Mas- interest in and plant culture, and sachusetts, and still exists at the Botanic especially in the cultivation of trees and Garden at . In the year 1818 shrubs, was evidenced through the collection a catalogue of the garden by W D. Peck was of ligneous plants begun in 1800 by the issued listing the following Asiatic trees and brothers Samuel and Joshua Pierce in Long- shrubs not mentioned in the catalogue of the , Pennsylvania, and through more than 26

50 years carried on by the family. The garden was initiated, countries which were destined which still contains many of the trees plantedI to enrich American and European gardens by the Pierce brothers is now the property of through a large number of beautiful and valu- Pierre S. du Pont [today it is part of Longwood able trees and shrubs. Up to this time Gardens]. Another well-known collection is America had received eastern Asiatic woody the Painter Arboretum, near Lima, in Penn- plants entirely by way of Europe, with the pos- sylvania, founded in 1825 by the brothers Min- sible exception of a few important trees and shall and Jacob Painter, who extended and shrubs such as Rosa laevigata Michx., which maintained the arboretum up to the time of had previously come direct to America and by their death in the 1870s. The garden exists the end of the 18th century was already grow- today and contains, among other plants, the ing wild in the southern states. How it may oldest specimen of Sequoiadendron gigantea have come there remains unknown. in eastern North America. In the year 1861, Dr. George R. Hall, who In the year 1828, John Evans founded a spent nearly fifteen years in China and had garden on the Ithan Creek near Philadelphia also visited Japan, sent a number of plants and brought together a remarkable collection from Japan to America; in the following year of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. He he brought still more Japanese plants, some corresponded with both Hookers, father and of which he sent to Parsons’ Nursery in Flush- son, and exchanged , and also received ing, some to Francis Parkman in , and seeds of Himalayan plants which Joseph some he planted on his own estate in Bristol, Hooker had collected. In the year 1841, Henry Rhode Island, where many of them are grow- Winthrop Sargent bought the estate ing today. Among the plants which he Wodenethe above Fishkill Landing in the state introduced may be mentioned some then not of New York and planted and attempted to even known in Europe, as his Mains Halliana, raise all the which he was able to Magnolia stellata and M. kobus, Hydrangea obtain; from here was distributed Pinus pon- paniculata f. grandiflora, Hypericum patu- derosa f. pendula. Another pinetum was lum, Taxus cuspidata f. nana, Sciadopitys ver- established by Horatio Hollis Hunnewell, of ticillata, Phellodendron lavallei, Euonymus Wellesley, Mass., in the year 1852, and is still patens, and Lilium auratum. Other Japanese maintained by the family. No garden in the plants were introduced by Thomas Hogg, the eastern United States can boast a better col- American consul in Japan in the years 1865 lection of fine large specimens of various and 1873, and propagated in Parsons’ nursery; conifers. among these Cercidiphyllum japonicum, Here also mention should be made of some Hydrangea petiolaris, Symplocos paniculata, famous nurseries such as that of Ellwanger Magnolia parviflora, and M. obovata (M. and Barry in Rochester, New York, established hypoleuca) deserve special mention. in 1840; the nursery of Samuel B. Parsons and In the year 1872, the was his brother Robert established at the same founded as a department of Harvard Univer- time in Flushing, Long Island; and later that sity with Professor C. S. Sargent as Director, of Thomas Meehan, in Germantown, near an institution whose purpose was to grow all Philadelphia, in 1853. All these firms carried the woody plants which would be hardy in the a large number of trees and shrubs and thereby climate of Boston. All plants already culti- made many of the plant treasures of European vated in European and American gardens were gardens available to American garden lovers. collected and planted. As to those not yet A third period may be marked from the year found in cultivation, the director made it his 1861 in which the first Japanese plants were aim to introduce from eastern Asia the rich sent to America, and thereby direct commu- ligneous flora up to that time only slightly nication with Japan and later also with China known in western gardens. The first shipment 27

of seeds from eastern Asia was sent to the are found some previously collected by him Arnold Arboretum in the 1880s by Dr. F. for Veitch: Abies fargesii, Actinidia chinen- Bretschneider, who was physician to the sis, Aesculus wilsonii, Berberis sargentiana, Russian embassy in Peking. It consisted and B. triacanthophora, Cercis racemosa, chiefly of trees and shrubs from the moun- Corylopsis veitchiana, Cotoneaster divari- tains west of Peking, among which may be cata, and C. hupehensis, Dipteronia sinensis, mentioned Syringa pubescens and S. villosa, Fagus lucida, Hydrangea sargentiana, Ilex Sorbus pohuashanensis and S. discolor (S. pernyi, Tasminum mesnyi (f. primulinum), pekinensis), Deutzia parviflora, Rhododen- Kolkwitzia amabilis, Malus hupehensis, dron dauircum var. mucronulatum, Pyrus Populus lasiocarpa, Picea asperata, Rosa bretschneideri, P. betulifolia, and P. moyesii, Salix magnifica, Sargentodoxa phaeocarpa. cuneata, Sinowilsonia henryi, Sorbaria From Japan the Arboretum received in 1890, arborea, Spiraea veitchii, Styrax wilsonii, through Dr. William S. Bigelow, seeds of Pru- Syringa reflexa, Viburnum rhytidiphyllum. nus sargentii. Two years later, the director, Also a part of the seeds of woody plants col- Professor Sargent, visited Japan and brought lected in eastern China by C. Schneider for the back seeds of many trees and shrubs chief Austrian Dendrological Society in 1914 came among which were obtusum to America owing to the interruption of com- var. Kaempferi, one of the most valuable munication with Europe by the World War. In introductions of the Arboretum, Malus sar- the year 1914, Wilson went again to eastern gentii, Acer capillipes, and Sorbus alnifolia. Asia and this time to Korea and Japan. Of In the year 1905, J. G. Jack made a trip to the Korean ligneous plants which he eastern Asia and brought back, among other introduced, those deserving special mention plants from Korea, Rhododendron yedoense are Forsythia ovata, Pentactina rupicola, var. poukhanense, Tripterygium regelii, and Stewartia koreana, Buxus microphylla var. Evodia daniellii, and from northern China koreana, Thuja koraiensis, and Syringa velu- Quercus aliena and Salix matsudana. A year tina ; of the Japanese ligneous plants may be earlier the Japanese botanist Uchiyama had named the numerous garden forms of sent seeds of Korean woody plants to the Japanese cherries and the Kurume . Arnold Arboretum, among them Abies From Formosa, which he visited in 1918, he holophylla and Neillia Uekii. In the years introduced the only recently discovered 1907 and 1908, E. H. Wilson, who had for- Taiwania cryptomerioides, the tallest merly collected very successfully in China for of eastern Asia, a counterpart of the the English nursery firm of Veitch, traveled for Sequoiadendron gigantea of California. In the the Arnold Arboretum. Two years later he years 1910 and 1911, William Purdom visited undertook a second journey to China, chiefly the northern provinces of China and sent back to western China, to collect seeds of conifers a large number of valuable seeds of ligneous which in 1908 had borne no cones. During plants, such as Malus transitoria, Prinsepia these three years Wilson sent more than 1,200 uniflora, Berberis circumserrata, and B. pur- numbers of seeds to the Arnold Arboretum as domii, Sorbus koehneana, Deutzia grand- well as a number of cuttings and young plants iflora, and D. hypoglauca, and Picea meyeri. of Populus and Salix and some other woody The last collector for the Arnold Arboretum plants. Many of the plants collected by him in eastern Asia was J. F. Rock, who in the years proved to be new not only to cultivation, but 1925 and 1926 collected in northwestern also to science. Wilson’s new introductions China, after he had previously traveled for the and even those of horticultural merit are too United States Department of in numerous to mention here and only the fol- southwest China, Burma, and Siam. Among lowing selection may be noted, among which the woody plants collected by him that were 28

The ongmal introduction of the spreadmg Japanese yew, Taxus cuspidata ’Nana,’ growing on the site of Dr. Hall’s former estate in Bristol, Rhode Island. The specimen, planted m 1862, is now over 30 feet tall and 130 feet in circumference. Photo by P Del Tredici, 1987. new to cultivation may be mentioned the fol- traveled in central and eastern Asia, where by lowing : funiperus tibetica, f. distans, j. glau- accident he lost his life in the Yangtze River. cescens, Betula japonica var Rockii, Quercus Among his new introductions may be men- laotungensis, Spiraea uratensis, Caragana tioned funiperus squamata var. Meyeri, brevifolia, and C. densa, Euonymus nanoides, Syringa meyeri, Albizzia kalkora, Betula and E. przewalskii, Rhododendron rufum, chinensis, Buxus microphylla var. sinica, and R. capitatum. During the sixty years of Daphne giraldii, Wisteria villosa. The botanic its existence, the Arnold Arboretum has gardens with arboreta connected, such as the introduced into American gardens some 2500 Missouri in St. Louis and varieties besides the garden forms founded by Henry Shaw as a private garden of Syringa, Rhododendron, Rosa, Diervilla, and opened to the public about 1860, the New and others.... York Botanical Garden founded in 1894, and Also to the Department of Agriculture with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden established in its experiment gardens in different parts of the 1910, have contributed but little to the country, America is indebted for many new introduction of foreign trees and shrubs. The introductions of trees and shrubs through col- same is true of other arboreta founded in more lectors sent to all parts of the world. One of recent times, as the Knox Arboretum in War- the most successful of these collectors was ren, Maine; the Sanford Arboretum in Knox- Frank N. Meyer, who in the years 1907-1914 ville, Tennessee; and the , 29

in Lisle, near Chicago. The last named is, next caprifolium, L. japonica, L. tatarica, L. to the Arnold Arboretum, the most important xylosteum, L. morrowii, and many others. arboretum in the United States; in it are spe- Their number increases from year to year so cial plantations, largely of trees of value for that in time the flora of the wooded areas, at purposes, but it is also very rich in its least in the more densely populated regions, collection of ornamental trees and shrubs. takes on a mixed character. For the most part, From the preceding statements it is evident however, the foreign trees and shrubs will that the introduction to American gardens of probably never become so predominant as is most of the trees and shrubs was not direct the case with herbaceous plants on cultivated from their native country but through the and uncultivated ground in proximity to set- medium of European gardens. Not until the tled communities. Here the native plants are second half of the present century did often almost crowded out by the European introductions begin to be made direct. Even aliens, and when a European who has a many American plants, especially those from knowledge of plants comes to northeastern the Rocky Mountains and from the western America he will scarcely be reminded by the states, came by way of Europe into eastern surrounding , so long as he stays in American gardens.... and near the cities and does not go out into Of the woody plants introduced into North the country, that he is in another part of the America from Europe and Asia, many have world. found conditions so favorable for their growth In Europe this is far less the case; Ameri- that they, especially in the eastern states, have can plants have not become naturalized to to a large degree escaped from cultivation, and such a degree as to change the character of the many are so well established that they actu- vegetation; in contrast to the European plants, ally form a part of the native flora. Among the American plants appear to possess less such woody plants that have become natural- vitality, which possibly may be explained by ized in many places may be mentioned the fol- the fact that the European plants represent a lowing : Picea abies (P excelsa), Salix fragilis, geologically younger flora. The American Populus alba, P nigra, Alnus glutinosa, Ber- plants belong in the main to the tertiary flora, beris vulgaris, B. thunbergii, Ribes sativum, while the European flora has developed and Philadelphus coronarius, Sorbaria sorbifolia, spread since the ice age. But the European and Malus pumila, Sorbus aucuparia, Crataegus Asiatic flora will also change with time. As oxyacantha, Pyracantha coccinea, Rubus a consequence of the intercourse between the laciniatus, Rosa canina, R. eglanteria (R. different countries ever becoming closer, one rubiginosa), Prunus persica, P avium, P cer- may expect that an increasing mixture of asus, P. spinosa, Genista tinctoria, Cytisus floras of each of the climatic zones will take scoparius, Ailanthus altissima (A. glan- place and that finally each climatic zone dulosa), Euonymus europaea, Rhamnus around the world will have more or less the cathartica, and R. frangula, Daphne same or similar vegetation, as this is already mezereum, Solanum dulcamara, Ligustrum the case today to a higher degree in the tropics vulgare, Paulownia tomentosa, Lonicera than in the temperate zone.