Biography

Scottish botanist known especially for describing some major conifers. David Don served as Professor of Botany at King's College, London, and as librarian at the Linnean Society of London. He was born at Doo Hillock, Forfarshire, and grew up with a brother, George Don (1798-1856), who also became a botanist. They were influenced by their father, also named George Don, who established a nursery in Forfar before being recruited by the Edinburgh Botanic Garden. David Don trained in horticulture and botany under his father before obtaining a position looking after the hothouses of Messrs. Dickson at Broughton, near Edinburgh. He moved to London in 1819, where he became librarian to Aylmer Bourke Lambert.

Don's term as librarian at the Linnean Society began in 1822. While there he compiled the Prodromus florae nepalensis (1825) based on collections made by Francis Hamilton and Nathaniel Wallich. In 1836 he was appointed Professor of Botany at King's College, London, but was not long in the role before a malignant tumour appeared in his neck, taking his life in 1841.

Among the pines and firs new to science in the 19th century, Don was responsible for descriptions of the Coast Redwood (Taxodium sempervirens D.Don, now Sequoia sempervirens (D.Don) Endl.) and the Grand Fir (Pinus grandis Douglas ex D.Don, now Abies grandis (Douglas ex D.Don) Lindl. He also put Cryptomeria japonica (Thunb.) D.Don in a new genus (it was formerly Cupressus japonica Thunb.) and completed monographs on the genus Saxifraga and members of the Melastomaceae family. Don was married, but left no children. His herbarium was bequeathed to Linnean Society.

Sources:
Anon., 1842, Proceedings of the Linnean Society 1: 145-149
H.S. Miller, 1970, "The Herbarium of Aylmer Bourke Lambert: Notes on Its Acquisition, Dispersal, and Present Whereabouts", Taxon, 19(4): 497.