French missionary Abbé Armand David was a natural history collector and explorer of 19th century China. He discovered hundreds of zoological and botanical taxa in China over the course of three lengthy expeditions in the country's interior.
David was born in the French Pyrenees at Espellette, near Bayonne. He entered the Congregation of the Mission in 1848 and two years later, because of his strong interest in natural history, was sent to teach science at Savona College on the Italian Riviera. Here he created a small museum of specimens for the purposes of teaching (which survived beyond his 10 years at the college), and meanwhile implored his superiors to be sent on missionary work in China.
David's wish was finally granted in 1862 and he travelled to Peking (Beijing), where he began to make natural history collections, while honouring his missionary duties. Some of his specimens were sent to the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, where they attracted much attention. He was subsequently commissioned by the Jardin des Plantes to undertake further collecting expeditions, in which he was very successful.
David's first major journey took place in 1866-1867, when he travelled north-west from Beijing into southern Mongolia. This trip yielded few botanical specimens, but his later collections from north, central and western China were extensive. David's next expedition lasted from 1868 to 1870, taking him along the Yangtze to Chongqing, then on to Chengdu and west into the mountainous Muping District. Among David's discoveries on this journey were numerous rhododendrons, maples and Prunus species, primulas, gentians and lilies. He also found the handkerchief or dove tree, named Davidia involucrata Baill. in his honour. Among the animals new to science that he found were the Giant Panda and Pére David's Deer.
On his return to Shanghai in 1870 David was exhausted. He spent some time recuperating in Europe before setting off on his next mission in 1872. This expedition extended to four years' duration, following a path south-west from Beijing across the Yellow River to Hunan Province and north to Xian, Shaanxi, returning by way of the River Han. On this trip he found the foxglove tree, Paulownia tomentosa, which was later introduced to cultivation in the West.
The end of this last journey found David in ill health and he once more went home to France to rest, encouraging a fellow priest, Pére Jean Marie Delavay, to continue botanical explorations in China. On his expeditions David had traversed, mostly on foot, some 7,000 miles, collecting more than 1,500 plants. Among his botanical collections were 250 new species and 11 new genera.
In France David wrote up accounts of his travels, and those of later explorers. He travelled again in 1881 and 1883, to Tunisia and Istanbul, respectively, but did not return to China. He was admitted to the Paris Academie des Sciences in 1872 and was honoured with the Gold Medal of the Société Geographique, the Réunion de Savants and the Société de France, and the Cross of the Legion d'honneur in 1896. He passed away aged 74 in 1900.
Sources:
E. Bretschneider, 1898, History of European Botanical Discoveries In China: 837-870
E.H.M. Cox, 1945, Plant Hunting in China: 112-115
H. Fox, 1049, Abbé David's Diary
B. Scott, "Père Jean Pierre Armand David CM":
www.vincentians.org.au/Studies/ScottBDavid.pdf, accessed 31 May 2012
F.C. Stern, 1944, "The Discoveries of the Great French Missionaries in Central and Western China", Proceedings of the Linnean Society, 156(1): 17-18
P. de Vilmorin, 1901, Bulletin de la Société botanique de France, 48: 5-8.
