Biography

Scottish horticulturist and plant collector who travelled to Canada in 1780 to collect American plants, entering the United States in 1785. His early expeditions were financed by W. Aiton (of Kew), William Forsyth (of the Chelsea Physic Garden) and J.E. Smith (of the Linnean Society) and the plant introductions were grown at his nursery at Sloane Square, Chelsea. Fraser sent a collection of his American plants to the Empress Catherine of Russia in 1796 and in 1800 was commissioned by the Czar and Czarina to collect again in North America. He and his son were first to ascend Roan Mountain in Tenessee and collect Rhododendron catawbiense, introducing the plant to England. Thousands of plants were subsequently shipped to the Fraser nursery by W. Avery, a colonel in the recently concluded Revolutionary War and a guide for André Michaux who had described the species. These plants provided the basis for many new hybrids and cultivars in the genus. An important discovery by the Frasers, missed by their rival Michaux, was the Fraser fir Abies fraseri (Pursh) Poir. The genus Frasera Walter was also named in his honour. Fraser's nursery produced a number of scientific publications, including descriptions of species by Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859) in their catalogue of new plants from America. The nursery was continued after the death of its founder by his sons John and James Thomas Fraser (1811-1817) in partnership, and then by the younger son, J.T. Fraser until 1827.

Biography

Scottish horticulturist and plant collector who travelled to Canada in 1780 to collect American plants, entering the United States in 1785. His early expeditions were financed by W. Aiton (of Kew), William Forsyth (of the Chelsea Physic Garden) and J.E. Smith (of the Linnean Society) and the plant introductions were grown at his nursery at Sloane Square, Chelsea. Fraser sent a collection of his American plants to the Empress Catherine of Russia in 1796 and in 1800 was commissioned by the Czar and Czarina to collect again in North America. He and his son were first to ascend Roan Mountain in Tenessee and collect Rhododendron catawbiense, introducing the plant to England. Thousands of plants were subsequently shipped to the Fraser nursery by W. Avery, a colonel in the recently concluded Revolutionary War and a guide for André Michaux who had described the species. These plants provided the basis for many new hybrids and cultivars in the genus. An important discovery by the Frasers, missed by their rival Michaux, was the Fraser fir Abies fraseri (Pursh) Poir. The genus Frasera Walter was also named in his honour. Fraser's nursery produced a number of scientific publications, including descriptions of species by Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859) in their catalogue of new plants from America. The nursery was continued after the death of its founder by his sons John and James Thomas Fraser (1811-1817) in partnership, and then by the younger son, J.T. Fraser until 1827.