Gardens of empire : botanical institutions of the Victorian British empire

Gardens Of Empire Is The First Book Which Gives A Detailed Analysis Of The Foundation, Extent, Management And Achievements Of The 120 Botanic Gardens, Herbaria And Botanic Stations - From Hong Kong To British Honduras, Malacca To The Gold Coast, Fiji To Malta, Jamaica To Sydney - Which Flourished In The Victorian British Empire. There Young British Curators Faced The Hazards Of Malaria, Blackwater Fever, Occasionally A Hostile Indigenous Population, Snakes And Dangerous Animals, Personal Penury, And Jealous Settlers Who Usually Opposed Any Suggestion Of Diversification From Monoculture Or Of Preserving The Natural Bush For Ecological Reasons. This Is The Story Of A Lost World - Where Pith-helmeted Botanists Tamed Jungles And Supplied Kew With The Flora Of The Empire. 1. The Growth Of The Empire's Gardens. The Jewels Of Asia. Triumph In The Antipodes. Mixed Success In Africa And The Islands. The American Patchwork -- 2. The Botanic Stations' Experiment -- 3. The Running Of The Imperial Network -- 4. Taming The Wilderness: The Colonial Botanic Gardens -- 5. The Functions Of Colonial Botanic Gardens. The Economic Function. The Scientific Function. Botanic Gardens And Society -- 6. The Colonial Curator -- App. I. Botanic Gardens And Stations Of The British Empire, Pre-1902 -- App. Ii. Botanic Gardens Of The United Kingdom, Pre-1902 -- App. Iii. Foreign Botanic Gardens, Pre-1902 -- App. Iv. Foreign Colonial Botanic Gardens And Stations, Pre-1902. Donal P. Mccracken. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [220]-233) And Index. By the time of Queen Victoria's death in 1901, botanic gardens were an integral part of empire and those at Calcutta, Pamplemousse on Mauritius, Peradeniya on Ceylon and Trinidad - carried the prefix "Royal Botanic Gardens". This book is a thematic history of the imperial network of these gardens.