Biography

English plant collector for the horticultural firm of James Veitch & Sons, collecting plants, seeds and botanical specimens in India and South-East Asia. Thomas Lobb was born in the village of Perranarworthal in Cornwall, the younger brother of William Lobb. Virtually all written records of Lobb's collecting activities were destroyed when his employers went out of business in 1914. He is commorated by the genus Lobbia Planch. and in many species including Agapetes lobbii C.B. Clarke, Dendrobium lobbii Teijsm. & Binn., Hoya lobbii Hook. f., Phalaenopsis lobbii (Rchb. f.) H.R. Sweet and Xyris lobbii Rendle. He had a particular interest in orchids and was responsible for introducing the spectacular blue orchid Vanda coerulea Griff. ex Lindl. to cultivation in Britain. He had a number of misadventures including the loss of a collection from Singapore in a shipwreck. On an expedition to the Phillipines his leg was amputated, bringing his plant collecting to an abrupt end and he returned to England to settle in Devoran, Cornwall as a gardener. Herbarium specimens from the Lobb brothers often bear just the surname and the younger or elder brother must be distinguished by geography. A plaque at Devoran Parish Church in Truro commemorates both brothers, though only Thomas is buried there.

Biography

English plant collector for the horticultural firm of James Veitch & Sons, collecting plants, seeds and botanical specimens in India and South-East Asia. Thomas Lobb was born in the village of Perranarworthal in Cornwall, the younger brother of William Lobb. Virtually all written records of Lobb's collecting activities were destroyed when his employers went out of business in 1914. He is commorated by the genus Lobbia Planch. and in many species including Agapetes lobbii C.B. Clarke, Dendrobium lobbii Teijsm. & Binn., Hoya lobbii Hook. f., Phalaenopsis lobbii (Rchb. f.) H.R. Sweet and Xyris lobbii Rendle. He had a particular interest in orchids and was responsible for introducing the spectacular blue orchid Vanda coerulea Griff. ex Lindl. to cultivation in Britain. He had a number of misadventures including the loss of a collection from Singapore in a shipwreck. On an expedition to the Phillipines his leg was amputated, bringing his plant collecting to an abrupt end and he returned to England to settle in Devoran, Cornwall as a gardener. Herbarium specimens from the Lobb brothers often bear just the surname and the younger or elder brother must be distinguished by geography. A plaque at Devoran Parish Church in Truro commemorates both brothers, though only Thomas is buried there.