Robert Wight
Encyclopedia
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...
. He studied botany
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...
in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
under John Hope
John Hope (botanist)
John Hope was a Scottish physician and botanist. He is best known as an early supporter of Carl Linnaeus's system of classification, largely because he published very little of the research that might have made him a name in plant physiology....
. He was the director of the Botanic Garden in Madras. He made use of local artists to make illustrations of the plants around him. He learned the art of lithography and used it to publish the Icones Plantarum Indiae Orientalis (Illustrations of the plants of Eastern India) in six volumes in 1856. He spent the time between 1819-1853 in India and devoted most of that time to the study of plants.
Early life
Robert was the son of a Writer to the SignetWriters to the Signet
The Society of Writers to Her Majesty’s Signet is a private society of Scottish solicitors, dating back to 1594 and part of the College of Justice. Writers to the Signet originally had special privileges in relation to the drawing up of documents which required to be signeted, but these have since...
in Edinburgh and was born at Milton, East Lothian, Scotland. He was the twelfth among fourteen siblings. He was educated at the Edinburgh High School and professionally at Edinburgh University , where he took a medical degree in 1816.He worked as a ship's surgeon for two years and went on a few voyages, including one to the USA.
Early work in India
He went to India in 1819 as the first assistant surgeon and later full surgeon of the 33rd Regiment of Native Infantry in the East India Company's service. His interest in botany was clear and within three years he was transferred to Madras and made in charge of the Botanic Gardens and later appointed as naturalist to the East India Company. He made extensive collections from southern India from 1826 to 1828, and sent them to Sir William Hooker at Glasgow. This collection consisted of specimens from around Madras up to VelloreVellore
Vellore It is considered one of the oldest cities in South India and lies on the banks of the Palar river on the site of Vellore Fort. The city lies between Chennai and Bangalore and the Temple towns of Thiruvannamalai and Tirupati...
and from Samalkota
Samalkota
Samalkota is a town, a municipality and Mandal under Kakinada in East Godavari district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.Samalkot is a town and industrial place, north-east of Rajahmundry in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh in south India, about 150 km south-west of...
and Rajahmundry
Rajahmundry
Rajahmundry is a city and municipal corporation of the Andhra Pradesh state in India. It is located east of the state capital, Hyderabad, on the banks of the River Godavari. Known as the Cultural Capital, Rajahmundry is noted for its intense Veda culture and intellect...
, now in Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
. Earlier, a collection that he had shipped to Robert Graham
Robert Graham (botanist)
Robert Graham was a Scottish physician and botanist. He was the inaugural chair of botany at the University of Edinburgh...
was lost at sea. He also improved his collection through his association with local collectors. In 1828 the government discontinued his position at the Botanic Gardens and reassigned him to regimental duties as garrison surgeon at Nagapattinam
Nagapattinam
Nagapattinam is a town in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Nagapattinam District. It is a prominent seaport on the east coast of India and an important centre of trade and commerce.The town of Nagapattinam dates back to the Sangam period...
. He continued his study of flora in and around Tanjore
Thanjavur District
Thanjavur District is one of the 32 districts of the state of Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. Its headquarters is Thanjavur.-Geography:...
for two years. He was promoted to the full rank of a surgeon in 1831.
Return to Scotland and publications
He took a three year sick leave in 1831 and took to ScotlandScotland
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...
, 100,000 specimens from India consisting of 3000-4000 species. The luggage weighed 2 tons. These specimens were studied and used by Dr. George Arnott Walker-Arnott
George Arnott Walker-Arnott
George Arnott Walker-Arnott was a Scottish botanist.He studied law in Edinburgh though later became a botanist, holding the position of Regius Professor of Botany in the University of Glasgow. He studied the botany of North America with Sir William Hooker and collaborated with Robert Wight in...
, Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow. Wight also published the Spicilegium Nilghiriense in two volumes with 200 coloured plates. Between 1840 and 1850, he issued another two volume work named Illustrations of Indian Botany, the object of which was to give figures and fuller descriptions of some of the chief species described in a systematic book of the highest botanical merit, which he prepared along with Dr. Walker-Arnott, and which was published under the title Prodromus Florae Peninsulae Indicae. He distributed a lithographic catalogue consisting of 2403 species from his collections among several leading botanical authorities in Europe, most of them enumerated in his work, Prodromus.
Wight was interested in making a large illustrated work on Indian plants based on Sowerby's English botany. Wight's illustrations were chiefly by native artists Rungia and Govindoo for his Icones Plantarum Indiae Orientalis in six volumes. Unlike other British workers of the time, he gave credit to his native artists and even named a genus of Orchid after Govindoo. This was the first attempt at a flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
for India in which the natural system of classification was followed. This work was however not completed.
He founded the Madras Agri-Horticultural Society and contributed a lot of articles to the Madras Journal of Literature and Science in the form of short letters and full articles on botany and related subjects between 1835-1840. He published several articles on cotton which were consolidated in an article in the Garderns Chronicle in 1861. He helped in the editing of Pharmacopoiea of India by Edward John Waring
Edward John Waring
Edward John Waring was a member of the Royal College of Physicians of London and a surgeon in the British Indian army who wrote at least three books about medicine: A Manual of Practical Therapeutics , Pharmacopoeia of India , and Bibliotheca Therapeutica .-External links:* at the Internet Archive....
where he added observations on medicinal properties of herbs and some botanical information. In 1836, he took up the responsibility of the Peradeniya collections at the botanical gardens in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
following his contact with GW Walker.
Many botanists from other parts of India depended on Wight and Gardener, especially McClelland who needed this support after the death of Griffith
William Griffith (botanist)
William Griffith was a British doctor, naturalist, and botanist.Griffith's botanical publications are from India and Burma. After a brief stay in Madras, he was assigned as a Civil Surgeon to Tenasserim, Burma, where he studied local plants and made collecting trips to the Barak River valley in...
for continuing the Calcutta Journal of Natural History. He also argued for retaining the entire collection of dried plants belonging to Griffith in Calcutta at the botanical gardens there for the benefit of Indian naturalists in the future.
Return to England and collections
Wight left India in 1853 and returned to England from his final post in CoimbatoreCoimbatore
Coimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is known as the "Manchester of South India"....
, where he was in charge of an experimental cotton farm. He donated his entire botanical collection from India, consisting of nearly 4000 species to Kew herbarium. This collection includes the type specimens of his new descriptions. In his lifetime, Wight described many genera and over 3000 species of plants. Of these, in the later seminal work on flora of India by Hooker
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM, GCSI, CB, MD, FRS was one of the greatest British botanists and explorers of the 19th century. Hooker was a founder of geographical botany, and Charles Darwin's closest friend...
, 40 new genera and over 500 species were recognised. Many others were synonymised. His collections are at many leading museums of the world. While most are at Kew, some important ones are at Geneva, Paris, Leningrad
Saint Petersburg Botanical Garden
The Saint Petersburg Botanical Garden, also known as the Botanic Gardens of the Komarov Botanical Institute or the Komarov Botanical Garden, is the oldest botanical garden in Russia, consisting of outdoor and rich indoor collections, which is situated on Aptekarsky Island in Saint Petersburg and...
and Glasgow
Glasgow Botanic Gardens
Glasgow Botanic Gardens is an Arboretum and public park located in the West End of Glasgow, Scotland. It features several glasshouses, the most notable of which is the Kibble Palace. The gardens were created in 1817, and run by the Royal Botanic Institution of Glasgow , and were intended to supply...
. Some duplicates are still retained in herbaria in Calcutta, Dehradun and Madras in India.
Recognition
He was elected as a Fellow of the Linnaean Society and member of the Imperial Academy in 1832 and Fellow of Royal Society in 1855. He was a member of several learned societies in India at the time. He was in constant touch with several leading botanists and scientists of his time including ArnottGeorge Arnott Walker-Arnott
George Arnott Walker-Arnott was a Scottish botanist.He studied law in Edinburgh though later became a botanist, holding the position of Regius Professor of Botany in the University of Glasgow. He studied the botany of North America with Sir William Hooker and collaborated with Robert Wight in...
, Brown
Robert Brown (botanist)
Robert Brown was a Scottish botanist and palaeobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope...
, Delessert
Jules Paul Benjamin Delessert
Jules Paul Benjamin Delessert was a French banker and naturalist.He was born at Lyon, the son of Étienne Delessert , the founder of the first fire insurance company and the first discount bank in France...
, Griffith
William Griffith (botanist)
William Griffith was a British doctor, naturalist, and botanist.Griffith's botanical publications are from India and Burma. After a brief stay in Madras, he was assigned as a Civil Surgeon to Tenasserim, Burma, where he studied local plants and made collecting trips to the Barak River valley in...
, Hooker
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM, GCSI, CB, MD, FRS was one of the greatest British botanists and explorers of the 19th century. Hooker was a founder of geographical botany, and Charles Darwin's closest friend...
, 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...
, Martius
Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius
Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius was a German botanist and explorer.Martius was born at Erlangen, where he graduated M.D. in 1814, publishing as his thesis a critical catalogue of plants in the botanic garden of the university...
, Munro
William Munro
William Munro was an English plant collector, botanist, agrostologist, and officer.-Military career:Munro was born as eldest son of William Munro in Druids Stoke, Gloucestershire in 1818. In 1834 he entered the 39th Regiment of Foot as an ensign...
, Nees
Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck
Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck was a prolific German botanist, physician, zoologist, and natural philosopher. He was a contemporary of Goethe and was born within the lifetime of Linnaeus. He described approximately 7,000 plant species...
, Royle
John Forbes Royle
John Forbes Royle , British botanist and teacher of materia medica, was born in Kanpur in 1799. Entering the service of the East India Company as assistant surgeon, he devoted himself to studying botany and geology, and made large collections among the Himalaya Mountains...
and Wallich
Nathaniel Wallich
Nathaniel Wallich was a surgeon and botanist of Danish origin who worked in India initially in the Danish settlement near Calcutta and later joined the East India Company...
. In recognition of his valuable contributions to Botany, several taxa are named after him. Wallich dedicated the genus Wightia to him. Hooker recorded about 122 Indian plants named by various botanists to commemmorate Wight.
Plants named after Wight
- Aerva wightii Hook. f.
- Agrostis wightii Nees
- Anaphalis wightiana DC.
- Anaphyllum wightii Schott
- Andrographis wightiana Arnott
- Andropogon wightianus Steudel
- Anisochilus wightii Hook. f.
- Anotis wightiana Hook. f.
- Apocopis wightii Nees
- Arenga wightii Griffith
- Arisaema wightii Schott
- Arundinaria wightiana Nees
- Beilschmiedia wightii Benth.
- Blumea wightiana DC.
- Calophyllum wightianum Wall.
- Carex wightiana Nees
- Celtis wightii Planch.
- Ceropegia wightii Grah.
- Chloris wightiana Nees
- Cinnamomum wightii Meissn.
- Cirrhopetalum wightii Thw.
...and others
Variants include Wt. and R.W.
Some of his early contributions carry his name as "Richard Wight" inadvertently.
Other sources
- Curtis' Botanical Magazine. 1931. Dedications and Portraits 1827-1927 . Compiled by Earnest Nelmes and Wm. Cuthbertson .London: Bernard Quaritch Ltd.
- Gardener's Chronicle. 1872. The Late Dr. Robert Wight , F.R.S. vol . 50 , no. 22.
- Gray , Asa. 1873. Scientific Papers. Amer. journ of science and Arts 5 ,ser .3.
- King Sir George. 1899. The Early History of Indian botany. journ.of Bot. 37, no. 443.
External links
- Robert Wight's work on orchids
- Basak R. K., Taxon, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Nov., 1981), pp. 784–793, International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPTInternational Association for Plant TaxonomyThe International Association for Plant Taxonomy promotes an understanding of plant biodiversity, facilitates international communication of research between botanists, and oversees matters of uniformity and stability in plant names . The IAPT was founded on July 18, 1950 at the Seventh...
), Robert Wight and His Botanical Studies in India, p.784 - Scanned works of Robert Wight