Morrison, William (fl. 1824 - 39)

Native of Scotland, was at Kew in 1824. He went to Barbados to superintend a sugar plantation. He visited Trinidad, and returning to England in 1828 brought a large collection of seeds, plants and dried specimens. Many of the Western Australian Proteaceae were introduced to Kew through Morrison.

"In founding Swan River Colony in 1828, Capt. Stirling, the Governor,took with him William Morrison, a gardener, who became a seed collector,and forwarded collections to this country for sale" [Records of the Royal Botanic Gardens (Kew), by John Smith, 1880, p. 10).

See also Kew Bull., 1891, p. 317.

Source: Maiden, J.H. (1909) Records of Western Australian Botanists. Journal of the West Australian Natural History Society. 2(6):5-33

Many verticordias bear the common name “morrison” the name derived from William Morrison above. Verticordia nitens, is called the “morrison featherflower”. Alex George confirmed that V. nitens was the first to be so called, but said that the name is sometimes extended to other verticordias with the same cauliflower-like appearance.

Source: pers com John Comrie-Greig, technical editor of Australian Oxford Dictionary (May 2006)