Douglas, David

Douglas, David, 1798–1834, Scottish botanist. He made several journeys in North America between 1823 and 1834 to study American plants and sent to Scotland more than 200 plants and seeds then unknown in Europe. His journal (1914) is of historical as well as of scientific importance, because he was one of the earliest travelers in the Oregon country and in California. In 1834 he traveled to Puget Sound and the Fraser River and then went to the Hawaiian Islands. The Douglas fir, which he observed c.1825, was named for him.

See biography by W. Morwood (1973).

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