A plant genus named after Quaker scientist John Fothergill

Fothergilla major (Large Fothergilla or Mountain Witch Alder)

John Fothergill (1712-1780) was born into a Quaker family in Yorkshire, England.  He became a medical doctor, apothecary and an advocate of inoculation. His activities in cultivating and studying plants also made him a Quaker botanist [1].  

Fothergill funded the travels of  the Anglo-American botanist and horticulturist John Bartram (1699-1777) through the Carolinas, where—like in other parts of southeastern North America—mountain witch-alder and dwarf witch-alder are native [2,3].  The witch-alder genus in the witch-hazel family (Hamamelidaceae) was later named to honor John Fothergill: Fothergilla.

The genus Fothergilla consists of the species Fothergilla major (large witch-alder or mountain witch alder) and Fothergilla gardenii (dwarf witch-alder). The extinct species Fothergilla malloryi is known from fossil leaves from the lower Eocene (about 50 million years ago) [4] .

Fothergilla gardenii 'Mt. Airy' (Cultivar of Dwarf Fothergilla)

The pictures here show flowering shrubs of F. major and F. gardenii in early May of 2021 in the Leventritt Shrub & Vine Garden of the Arnold Arboretum, Boston, Massachusetts. 

Keywords: natural history, botany, nomenclature, history. 

References and more to explore

[1] John Fothergill (1712-1780). Quakers in the World. URL: https://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action/367/John-Fothergill (accessed May 16, 2021).

[2] Fothergilla - The Best Of the Natives. Home & Garden Information Center, Nov. 12, 2018.   URL: https://hgic.clemson.edu/fothergilla-the-best-of-the-natives/ (accessed May 16, 2021).

[3] Bartram's Travels. URL: https://georgiahistory.com/education-outreach/online-exhibits/featured-historical-figures/william-bartram/the-bartram-trail/ (accessed May 16, 2021).

[4] Radtke, M.G., Pigg, K.B. and Wehr, W.C. Fossil Corylopsis and Fothergilla Leaves (Hamamelidaceae) from the Lower Eocene Flora of Republic, Washington, U.S.A., and Their Evolutionary and Biogrographic Significance. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 166 (2), March 2005. URL: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/427483.