James Drummond was a botanist

Botany

Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...

 and naturalist

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

 who was an early settler in Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

.

Early life

James Drummond was born in Inverarity

Inverarity

Inverarity is a village in Angus, Scotland, UK, on the A90, 6 miles from Forfar, and 7 miles from Dundee. The nearest villages are Gateside, Invereighty, Kincaldrum and Gallowfauld. Inverarity was formerly in the old county of Forfarshire, and its name means "creek of Arity".Inverarity's first...

, near Forfar

Forfar

Forfar is a parish, town and former royal burgh of approximately 13,500 people in Angus, located in the East Central Lowlands of Scotland. Forfar is the county town of Angus, which was officially known as Forfarshire from the 18th century until 1929, when the ancient name was reinstated, and...

, Angus

Angus

Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. He was baptised on 8 January 1787. His father, Thomas Drummond, was a gardener at Fotheringham estate. Little is known of his early life, but he certainly followed the usual course of apprenticeship leading to his "qualification" as a gardener. In 1808, he was employed by Mr Dickson (most probably George Dickson of Leith Walk, Edinburgh). In the mid-1808, Drummond (aged 21) he was appointed curator

Curator

A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...

 of the botanic garden

Botanical garden

A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...

 that was being established by the Cork Institution

Royal Cork Institution

Royal Cork Institution was an Irish cultural institution in the city of Cork from 1803-1885. It consisted of a library of scientific works, a museum with old Irish manuscripts and stones with ogham inscriptions, and lecture and reading rooms. A lack of funds resulted in its closure in...

, in the city of Cork

Cork (city)

Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. At the time this was a government funded garden, one purpose of which was the testing and propagation of plants for the benefit of the farmers of southern Ireland. In addition to his horticultural

Horticulture

Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...

 duties, Drummond discovered several species of plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

 that were previously not known to occur in Ireland. In 1810 Drummond was elected an Associate of the Linnean Society of London. That year he married Sarah Mackintosh, with whom he would have six children.

Swan River Colony

In 1828, in the midst of an economic recession, the British

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

 government withdrew funding for the botanical garden, and Drummond found himself unemployed with six children to support. Shortly afterwards, he was offered an appointment as Government Naturalist to the soon-to-be-established Swan River Colony

Swan River Colony

The Swan River Colony was a British settlement established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. The name was a pars pro toto for Western Australia. In 1832, the colony was officially renamed Western Australia, when the colony's founding Lieutenant-Governor, Captain James Stirling,...

 (Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

). This position was honorary, but Drummond was given to understand that if it was decided to establish a public garden in the colony, he could expect to be given a salaried appointment as Superintendent of Government Gardens.

Drummond and his family sailed for the Swan River

Swan River (Western Australia)

The Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth, in the south west of Western Australia. Its lower reaches are relatively wide and deep, with few constrictions, while the upper reaches are usually quite narrow and shallow....

 with the colony's other government officials on board the Parmelia

Parmelia (barque)

The Parmelia was a barque that was used to transport the first civilian officials and settlers of the Swan River Colony to Western Australia in 1829....

. On arriving, a temporary settlement was established at Garden Island. Informed that the settlement was unlikely to move to the mainland for a few months, Drummond established a garden on Garden Island.

Under the colony's land grant

Land grants in the Swan River Colony

The Swan River Colony, established in June 1829, was the only British colony in Australia established on the basis of land grants to settlers. Under the conditions stipulated by the Colonial Office, settlers would be granted land in proportion to the value of assets and labour that they brought to...

 conditions, Drummond investment in the colony was valued at £375, and this figure entitled him to 5000 acres (20 km²) of land. His first grant was 100 acre (0.404686 km²) of rich alluvial soil

Alluvium

Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...

 at Guildford

Guildford, Western Australia

Guildford is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located 13 km northeast of the city. Its Local Government Area is the City of Swan.-History:Guildford was established in 1829 on the Swan River, being sited near a permanent fresh water supply...

, where the Helena

Helena River

The Helena River is a tributary of the Swan River in Western Australia. The river rises in country east of Mount Dale and moves to the north west to Mundaring Weir, where it is dammed...

 and Swan

Swan River (Western Australia)

The Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth, in the south west of Western Australia. Its lower reaches are relatively wide and deep, with few constrictions, while the upper reaches are usually quite narrow and shallow....

 Rivers meet. He took possession of this land on 16 November 1829, and set about establishing a public nursery, probably with a view to encouraging his appointment to the salaried position of Superintendent of Government Gardens. However, when Drummond sought permission of the Governor, Captain James Stirling

James Stirling (Australian governor)

Admiral Sir James Stirling RN was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. His enthusiasm and persistence persuaded the British Government to establish the Swan River Colony and he became the first Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Western Australia...

, to transfer some of his plants from Garden Island, he was refused permission and told that the storekeeper

Storekeeper

Storekeeper is an enlisted rating in the United States Coast Guard; until 2009 it was also a United States Navy rating, the most common supply rate in US Navy vs. CS and SH and very much equivalent to the MOS 92 of the US Army...

, John Morgan, had been given control of the Garden Island nursery. Drummond then abandoned the Guildford site.

Around this time Drummond was given permission to select 1000 acres (4 km²) of his grant on the Swan River. He chose a site in the present-day Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

 suburb of Ascot

Ascot, Western Australia

Ascot is a suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, covering a narrow strip of land along the southern bank of the Swan River approximately east of Perth's central business district...

, consisting of extensive river frontage

Frontage

Frontage is the full length of a plot of land or a building measured alongside the road on to which the plot or building fronts. This is considered especially important for certain types of commercial and retail real estate, in applying zoning bylaws and property tax...

 and low-lying flats prone to flooding. Later he claimed a grant in the Avon Valley

Avon River (Western Australia)

The Avon River is a river in Western Australia. It is a tributary of the Swan River totalling 280 kilometres in length, with a catchment area of 125,000 square kilometres.-Catchment area:...

 south of Beverley

Beverley, Western Australia

Beverley is a town located in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, south-east of the state capital, Perth, between York and Brookton on the Great Southern Highway...

, but then changed his mind and exchanged it for land in the Helena Valley

Helena River

The Helena River is a tributary of the Swan River in Western Australia. The river rises in country east of Mount Dale and moves to the north west to Mundaring Weir, where it is dammed...

, probably near the present-day site of Mundaring Weir.

In July 1831, Stirling decided to establish a Government Garden and nursery adjacent to the temporary Government House. He appointed Drummond to the position of Superintendent with a salary of £100 per year, and allowed him to live in a small house next to the site. The following year, however, Stirling received instructions from the Colonial Office

Colonial Office

Colonial Office is the government agency which serves to oversee and supervise their colony* Colonial Office - The British Government department* Office of Insular Affairs - the American government agency* Reichskolonialamt - the German Colonial Office...

 that the position of Government Naturalist should be abolished. Stirling agreed to press for the decision to be overturned, and in the meantime invited Drummond to take over the Government Gardens for his own profit. Stirling returned to England later that year to hold discussions with the Colonial Office in person. On his return in June 1834, Drummond was informed that the Colonial Office had insisted that Drummond's post be abolished. On top of his retrenchment, Drummond was instructed to vacate his house next to the Government Gardens, as Stirling had decided to build the permanent Government House on the site. The situation degenerated into a quarrel, and Drummond tendered his resignation. He then retired from Perth to his grant in the Helena Valley, where he established a nursery and vineyard.

Collecting for Mangles

In July 1835, James Mangles wrote to George Fletcher Moore

George Fletcher Moore

George Fletcher Moore was a prominent early settler in colonial Western Australia, and "one [of] the key figures in early Western Australia's ruling elite"...

 to ask him to help Mangles obtain seeds and plants of Western Australian flora. Moore responded by purchasing a hundred packets of different kinds of seeds from Drummond's son Johnston

Johnston Drummond

Johnston Drummond was an early settler of Western Australia who became a respected botanical and zoological collector.The son of botanist James Drummond, Johnston Drummond was born in County Cork, Ireland in 1820...

, who had developed a taste for botanical collecting from his father. Moore send the seeds to Mangles, and later that year Mangles sent Moore two cases of rare and useful plants, asking Moore to return the cases filled with Western Australian plants. As Moore doubted his ability to rear the plants given to him, and did not have time to collect plants to return to Mangles, he passed both tasks on to James Drummond, writing to Mangles to introduce Drummond and recommend him as a botanist and collector. Aware of Drummond's financial difficulties, he agreed to bear the cost of sending the boxes to Mangles.

In September 1835, Drummond sent a letter to Mangles, in which he included the seeds of a number of species that he had collected when exploring the Helena Valley. He also enclosed three samples of soil from different parts of his grant, and asked Mangles to arrange a scientific analysis of them. He also asked Mangles to help him get orders for seeds and specimens.

The first box of specimens sent by Drummond contained orchid tubers, although Drummond doubted they would survive the trip. None of them survived, and all of the seeds were destroyed by insect larvae. Mangles responded with a request for more specimens, and sent Drummond a hortus siccus for Drummond to mount pressed plants in. He agreed to take orders and dispose of seeds and specimens on Drummond's behalf, and enclosed an order from the English botanist John Lindley

John Lindley

John Lindley FRS was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist.-Early years:Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley was a nurseryman and pomologist and ran a commercial nursery garden...

. However he also sent a frank letter to his cousin, Stirling's wife Ellen, in which he must have expressed frustration with Drummond, as Ellen Stirling responded with the observation that his letter was "a very long one but abusing poor old Drummond occupied so large a portion of it that [there was] no room for any other subject". By the same ship, Mangles sent a box of plants addressed to Ellen Stirling, but these were claimed by Drummond. Ellen Stirling disputed the matter, and the two had an angry argument that concluded with Drummond taking half. Ellen Stirling later wrote to Mangles, saying that Drummond was getting "old and stupid and appears only desirous to promote his own views".

The ship that carried Mangles letters and plants to Western Australia arrived in September 1837, and Drummond sent another box of orchid tubers and some dried, pressed plants with it on its return to England. The orchid tubers were again destroyed, but the pressed plants arrived intact. Mangles lent them to John Lindley, who described a number of new species from them, thus establishing Drummond's reputation as a botanical collector.

Drummond continued to collect for Mangles, putting together a large collection of living plants for him. He also made a number of collections of pressed plants and seeds for Mangles to sell on Drummond's behalf, of which one was to be given to Mangles. He dispatched these collection on the Joshua Carroll in September 1838. Meanwhile, Mangles had tired of Drummond's "commercial attitude towards botany" (Hasluck, 1955), and had begun to receive the outstanding collections of Georgiana Molloy

Georgiana Molloy

Georgiana Molloy was an early settler in Western Australia, who is remembered as one of the first botanical collectors in the colony....

. Shortly after the Joshua Carroll sailed, Drummond received a letter from Mangles in which Mangles declined to dispose of his specimens. On receiving Drummond's collections, Mangles passed them on to Lindley, who had offered to dispose of them for Drummond. The collections were divided into sets and sold by George Bentham

George Bentham

George Bentham CMG FRS was an English botanist, characterized by Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century".- Formative years :...

, but it was many years before Drummond eventually received payment.

Farming at Toodyay

In 1836, Drummond exchanged his grant on the Helena Valley for land in the Avon Valley

Avon River (Western Australia)

The Avon River is a river in Western Australia. It is a tributary of the Swan River totalling 280 kilometres in length, with a catchment area of 125,000 square kilometres.-Catchment area:...

. Settling at Toodyay

Toodyay, Western Australia

Toodyay is a town located in the Wheatbelt region in the Avon Valley, 85 km north-east of Perth, Western Australia. Toodyay is connected to Perth via both rail and road.-History:...

, the Drummonds established a homestead which they named Hawthornden after Drummond's ancestral seat. By February 1838, the homestead was sufficiently established for Drummond's wife and daughter to join them. Initially Drummond worked hard to establish his farm, but later this was increasingly taken over by his sons Thomas and James

James Drummond (Australian politician)

James Drummond was an early settler in Western Australia, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council from 1870 to 1873.Born in 1814, most probably in Cork, Ireland, James Drummond was the son of botanist James Drummond...

.

Collecting for Hooker

Although no longer having any financial encouragement to collect, Drummond continued to collect botanical specimens. In 1839 he received a letter from Sir William Jackson Hooker

William Jackson Hooker

Sir William Jackson Hooker, FRS was an English systematic botanist and organiser. He held the post of Regius Professor of Botany at Glasgow University, and was the first Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He enjoyed the friendship and support of Sir Joseph Banks for his exploring,...

, who requested seeds and plants, and offered to dispose of collections on Drummonds behalf. He also invited Drummond to submit written accounts of the botany of the Swan River Colony, which Jackson would publish in his Journal of Botany. A number of Drummond's letters to Hooker were published, and it is these accounts for which Drummond was best known at the time.

Over the next fourteen years, Drummond made numerous collecting expeditions. In August 1839, he made an expedition to Rottnest Island

Rottnest Island

Rottnest Island is located off the coast of Western Australia, near Fremantle. It is called Wadjemup by the Noongar people, meaning "place across the water". The island is long, and at its widest point with a total land area of . It is classified as an A Class Reserve and is managed by the...

 in company with John Gilbert

John Gilbert (naturalist)

John Gilbert was an English naturalist and explorer.Gilbert's birthday is 14 March, but the year is not known, estimates range from 1810 to 1815.He came from New Zealand to Australia in 1838....

 and Ludwig Preiss

Ludwig Preiss

Johann August Ludwig Preiss was a German-born British botanist and zoologist.Preiss was born in Herzberg am Harz, Germany. He obtained a doctorate, probably at Hamburg, then emigrated to Western Australia...

, and made two journeys into the Guangan that year. In 1840 he undertook an expedition to King George Sound

King George Sound

King George Sound is the name of a sound on the south coast of Western Australia. Located at , it is the site of the city of Albany.The sound covers an area of and varies in depth from to ....

, helping to identify a poisonous plant as the cause of many stock deaths in the area. In 1841 he went in search of good squatting land to the east of their land in Toodyay. The expedition, which included Captain John Scully

John Scully

John Scully may refer to:*John Scully , American Roman Catholic priest and President of Fordham University*John Scully *John Scully *Iceman John Scully, American boxer*John Sculley, former Apple CEO...

, Samuel Pole Phillips and Johnston Drummond, discovered the vast tract of open pastoral land that is now known as the Victoria Plains. Following this expedition, Drummond put together what is now known as Drummond's 1st Collection.

Drummond made four expeditions in 1842. The first was to the Vasse

Vasse, Western Australia

Vasse is a town in the South West region of Western Australia, west of the town of Busselton and southwest of Perth. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Busselton...

 district; the second into unexplored territory around the present-day site of the town of Moora

Moora, Western Australia

Moora is a townsite located 177 km north of Perth in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. Moora was one of the original stations on the Midland railway line to Walkaway, and the townsite was gazetted in 1895...

; the third into the Wongan Hills

Wongan Hills, Western Australia

Wongan Hills is a town in the Shire of Wongan-Ballidu, in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. The town is approximately 182 km north of the State capital Perth, at an altitude of 286 metres....

 with Gilbert and Johnston Drummond; and the four in the south west

Southwest Australia

Southwest Australia is a biodiversity hotspot that includes the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions of Western Australia. The region has a wet-winter, dry-summer Mediterranean climate, one of five such regions in the world...

 corner of the colony with Gilbert. In addition to collecting plants, Drummond also made large collections of moss

Moss

Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems...

 and fungi during 1842 and 1843. The collection that Drummond prepared and dispatched in 1843 became known as Drummond's 2nd Collection.

During late 1843 and 1844, Drummond made a number of journeys with his son Johnston, who was rapidly becoming a highly respected botanical and zoological collector in his own right. Near the end of 1843, the pair made an expedition to the north and east of Bolgart

Bolgart, Western Australia

Bolgart is a townsite north of Toodyay in Western Australia. It is in the Shire of Victoria Plains.The town derives its name from a nearby spring. The spring was discovered and the name recorded by explorer George Fletcher Moore in 1836. The area was settled in the 1840s and one of the first...

. Shortly afterwards they started on a major expedition to King George Sound, and east as far as Cape Riche

Cape Riche, Western Australia

Cape Riche is a cape and rural locality in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. By road, it is 525 km south-east of Perth and 123 km north-east of Albany...

. The plants that he collected in this expedition formed what became known as Drummond's 3rd Collection.

In 1844, a severe recession

Recession

In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...

 placed the Drummond family in severe financial debt, and the family farm was lost. Drummond and his son Johnston began planning to make their entire living from collecting, discussing going to South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

 or India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, but nothing came of it before Johnston Drummond's death in July 1845. In 1845 and 1846, financial difficulties prevented Drummond from undertaking any further expeditions, but late in 1846 he was informed that he had been granted an honorarium of £200 by the British Government for services rendered to botany. He immediately began preparations for another journey. Setting out in company with George Maxwell, he travelled south to the Porongorup and Stirling Range, extensively exploring both, then south to King George Sound and east along the coast for five days. The result was Drummond's 4th Collection, which was complete by July 1847.

He made yet another expedition in 1848, along the south coast to the Mount Barren

West Mount Barren

West Mount Barren is part of the Fitzgerald River National Park located between Bremer Bay and Hopetoun on the south coast of Western Australia the coordinates of the summit of West Mount Barren are ....

. He had intended to go further, but the Mount Barren ranges were so rich in new species that there was no need. Drummond's 5th Collection was dispatched to London in June 1849. When Hooker received it he wrote in his Journal that he had "rarely seen so great a number of fine and remarkable species arrive at one time from any country".

In 1850, Drummond joined a surveying expedition that sought to establish a route for overlanding stock to Champion Bay. He spent 1851 in Champion Bay with his son John

John Drummond (Australian settler)

John Nicol Drummond was an early settler in Western Australia. He became the colony's first Inspector of Native Police, and helped to explore the Champion Bay district before becoming one of the district's pioneer pastoralists....

. He returned to Toodyay in December, and over the next few months he wrote a series of articles on the "Botany of the Northwestern District of Western Australia", which were published in five issues of the Perth Gazette from April 1852, and later republished by Hooker. His 6th Collection, made in Champion Bay the previous year, was put together and shipped near the end of 1852.

Later life

Thereafter Drummond ceased all collecting. He retired to Hawthornden, where he tended his grape vines and garden, and maintained an occasional correspondence with Hooker and other botanists. He remained in quiet retirement for ten years. He died on 26 March 1863 and was buried at Hawthornden beside his son Johnston. His wife died a little over a year later, and was buried beside him.

James Drummond Jr. transferred his father's extensive collections to Ferdinand von Mueller

Ferdinand von Mueller

Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist.-Early life:...

, then Government Botanist of Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, where it became the basis of Victoria's State Herbarium

Herbarium

In botany, a herbarium – sometimes known by the Anglicized term herbar – is a collection of preserved plant specimens. These specimens may be whole plants or plant parts: these will usually be in a dried form, mounted on a sheet, but depending upon the material may also be kept in...

.

Legacy

James Drummond was the author of several species of plant:

• Boronia molloyae
  Boronia molloyae
  Boronia molloyae is a shrub in the Boronia genus that grows in sandy soils in South West coastal regions of Western Australia. It is a slender shrub with springtime red-pink flowers commonly found along creeks, streams and swamps...
  
  Tall Boronia
• Dasypogon hookeri, J.Drumm., 1843 Pineapple bush
• Drakaea livida, J.Drumm., 1842
• Diuris picta, J.Drumm., 1853
• Dricrastylis reticulata, J.Drumm. ex Harv., 1855
• Dicrastylis stoechas, J.Drumm. ex Harv., 1855
• Gastrolobium leakeanum
• Hakea victoria
  Hakea victoria
  Hakea victoria, with common names Royal Hakea and Lantern Hakea, is a shrub which is native to Western Australia and noted for its ornamental foliage.-Description:...
  
  , Royal Hakea
• Macropidia fumosa, J. Drumm. ex Harv., 1855
• Verticordia grandis
  Verticordia grandis
  Verticordia grandis is a large woody shrub that occurs in Southwest Australia. The name grandis, Latin for large, is a reference to its large flowers, leaves, and height. It is well known for its large flowers, which are collected and cultivated, and given the informal name of Scarlet Featherflower...
  
  , Scarlet Featherflower

and, at least, one genus Lepilaena

Lepilaena

Lepilaena is a genus of aquatic and marine flowering plant comprising 6 or more species endemic to coastal and brackish or akaline inland waters of temperate Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand....

, J. Drumm. ex Harv., 1855

Over one hundred plant species were named in his honour, around sixty of which are still valid. Hall (1978) quotes Joseph Maiden as writing "He was far and away the most successful collector of Western Australian plants of his time." This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation J.Drumm. when citing

Author citation (botany)

In botanical nomenclature, author citation refers to citing the person who validly published a botanical name, i.e. who first published the name while fulfilling the formal requirements as specified by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature...

 a botanical name

Botanical name

A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar and/or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants...

.

Mount Drummond was named in Drummond's honour by John Septimus Roe

John Septimus Roe

John Septimus Roe was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, and a Member of Western Australia's Legislative and Executive Councils for nearly 40 years.-Early life:...

 in 1848. Roe, who was exploring the Mount Barren area is search of pastoral land at the same time that Drummond was collecting there, gave the hill its name after finding fresh tracks of Drummond there. In 1993 the Mundaring district office of the Department of Conservation and Land Management purchased 493 ha of land 10 km west of Bolgart

Bolgart, Western Australia

Bolgart is a townsite north of Toodyay in Western Australia. It is in the Shire of Victoria Plains.The town derives its name from a nearby spring. The spring was discovered and the name recorded by explorer George Fletcher Moore in 1836. The area was settled in the 1840s and one of the first...

 it was named the Drummond Nature Reserve

Drummond Nature Reserve

The Drummond Nature Reserve is an A class nature reserve 10 kilometres west of Bolgart, Western Australia. Named after the botanist James Drummond, the reserve has 439 species of vascular plants within its boundaries, including two rare and seven priority species.-History:In 1993 the land was...

 in his honour.

In 1948 a memorial in honour of John Gilbert

John Gilbert (naturalist)

John Gilbert was an English naturalist and explorer.Gilbert's birthday is 14 March, but the year is not known, estimates range from 1810 to 1815.He came from New Zealand to Australia in 1838....

 and James Drummond was erected in bush near Drakewood by ornithological

Ornithology

Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...

 and historical

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 societies.

James Drummond's brother Thomas Drummond, also a naturalist, accompanied Sir John Franklin

John Franklin

Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...

 in his explorations into the Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

 of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 in 1819-1822. Of his sons, Johnston

Johnston Drummond

Johnston Drummond was an early settler of Western Australia who became a respected botanical and zoological collector.The son of botanist James Drummond, Johnston Drummond was born in County Cork, Ireland in 1820...

 became a respected botanical collector in his own right; James

James Drummond (Australian politician)

James Drummond was an early settler in Western Australia, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council from 1870 to 1873.Born in 1814, most probably in Cork, Ireland, James Drummond was the son of botanist James Drummond...

 became a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council

Western Australian Legislative Council

The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...

, and John

John Drummond (Australian settler)

John Nicol Drummond was an early settler in Western Australia. He became the colony's first Inspector of Native Police, and helped to explore the Champion Bay district before becoming one of the district's pioneer pastoralists....

 became the colony's first Inspector of Native Police. His youngest daughter Euphemia was famed in her lifetime as the last surviving settler to arrive on the Parmelia (barque)

Parmelia (barque)

The Parmelia was a barque that was used to transport the first civilian officials and settlers of the Swan River Colony to Western Australia in 1829....

from 1905 until her death in 1920.