Biography

British nurseryman, orchidologist and importer of plants, who ran the commercial plant nursery Charlesworth & Co. in Heaton, Bradford, Yorkshire and was later based at Cooksbridge, Lewes, Sussex from 1908 until his death on 2 August 1920. The company of Charlesworth & Co. in Cooksbridge was taken over by McBean's Orchids in 1970. Early in the 20th century, a discovery was made independently in Germany and France by Hans Burgeff and Noel Bernard, that would allow orchid seedlings to be grown successfully for the first time on a sterile medium innoculated with a particular type of symbiotic fungus. Though this technique was beyond most orchid growers at the time, Joseph Charlesworth mastered the technique and was soon raising thousands of Odontoglossum seedlings at his nursery in Haywards Heath. He is credited with plant collections from South America, though these probably originated from his partner Edward Shuttleworth or the collector John Carder, and Charlesworth sent plant specimens to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1889) for identification. A number of orchids are named in his honour including Gongora charlesworthii Rolfe from Colombia, Bifrenaria charlesworthii Rolfe from Brazil and Cypripedium charlesworthii Rolfe (= Paphiopedilum charlesworthii (Rolfe) Pfitzer) from Myanmar.

Biography

British nurseryman, orchidologist and importer of plants, who ran the commercial plant nursery Charlesworth & Co. in Heaton, Bradford, Yorkshire and was later based at Cooksbridge, Lewes, Sussex from 1908 until his death on 2 August 1920. The company of Charlesworth & Co. in Cooksbridge was taken over by McBean's Orchids in 1970. Early in the 20th century, a discovery was made independently in Germany and France by Hans Burgeff and Noel Bernard, that would allow orchid seedlings to be grown successfully for the first time on a sterile medium innoculated with a particular type of symbiotic fungus. Though this technique was beyond most orchid growers at the time, Joseph Charlesworth mastered the technique and was soon raising thousands of Odontoglossum seedlings at his nursery in Haywards Heath. He is credited with plant collections from South America, though these probably originated from his partner Edward Shuttleworth or the collector John Carder, and Charlesworth sent plant specimens to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1889) for identification. A number of orchids are named in his honour including Gongora charlesworthii Rolfe from Colombia, Bifrenaria charlesworthii Rolfe from Brazil and Cypripedium charlesworthii Rolfe (= Paphiopedilum charlesworthii (Rolfe) Pfitzer) from Myanmar.

Biography

British nurseryman, orchidologist and importer of plants, who ran the commercial plant nursery Charlesworth & Co. in Heaton, Bradford, Yorkshire and was later based at Cooksbridge, Lewes, Sussex from 1908 until his death on 2 August 1920. The company of Charlesworth & Co. in Cooksbridge was taken over by McBean's Orchids in 1970. Early in the 20th century, a discovery was made independently in Germany and France by Hans Burgeff and Noel Bernard, that would allow orchid seedlings to be grown successfully for the first time on a sterile medium innoculated with a particular type of symbiotic fungus. Though this technique was beyond most orchid growers at the time, Joseph Charlesworth mastered the technique and was soon raising thousands of Odontoglossum seedlings at his nursery in Haywards Heath. He is credited with plant collections from South America, though these probably originated from his partner Edward Shuttleworth or the collector John Carder, and Charlesworth sent plant specimens to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1889) for identification. A number of orchids are named in his honour including Gongora charlesworthii Rolfe from Colombia, Bifrenaria charlesworthii Rolfe from Brazil and Cypripedium charlesworthii Rolfe (= Paphiopedilum charlesworthii (Rolfe) Pfitzer) from Myanmar.