Robert Fortune: Difference between revisions

What links here Related changes Page information Get shortened URL
Created by Wikidoctor56
Last edited February 23, 2026
← Older edit
VisualWikitext
UpdateBot (talk | contribs)
Bots
22,126 edits
robot: Update article (please report if you notice any mistake or error in this edit)
Svetlmat (talk | contribs)
13 edits
m quick update
 
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Scottish botanist, plant hunter and traveller}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
{{Infobox scientist
Line 8: Line 9:
| death_place  = London
| death_place  = London
| fields        = botanist, plant hunter  
| fields        = botanist, plant hunter  
| known_for    = Introducing many plants to Europe, Australia and America
| known_for    = Introducing plants to Europe, Australia and America
| author_abbrev_bot = '''Fortune'''
| author_abbrev_bot = '''Fortune'''
| workplaces =  [[Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh]], [[Horticultural Society of London]]
| workplaces =  [[Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh]], [[Horticultural Society of London]]
}}
}}
'''Robert Fortune''' (16 September 1812 – 13 April 1880)<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Fortune, Robert}}</ref><ref>"Ten Things…You Never Knew About The Scottish." Britain 79.5 (2011): 98. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Nov. 2012.</ref> was a [[Scotland|Scottish]] botanist, [[plant collecting|plant hunter]] and traveller, best known for introducing around 250 new ornamental plants, mainly from [[China]], but also [[Japan]], into the gardens of Britain, Australia, and the USA. He also played a role in the development of the [[history of tea in India|tea industry in India]] in the 19th century.
'''Robert Fortune''' (16 September 1812 – 13 April 1880)<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Fortune, Robert}}</ref> was a [[Scotland|Scottish]] botanist, [[plant collecting|plant hunter]] and traveller, best known for introducing around 250 new ornamental plants, mainly from [[China]], but also [[Japan]], into the gardens of Britain, Australia, and North America. He also played a role in the development of the [[history of tea in India|tea industry in India]] in the 19th century. He also imported [[Castanea crenata|Japanese chestnuts]] into the United States, which led to the introduction of [[chestnut blight]] to the country 24 years after his death.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tredici |first=Peter Del |date=2017-09-01 |title=The introduction of Japanese plants into North America |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA506035732&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00068101&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=anon~eff03900&aty=open-web-entry |journal=The Botanical Review |language=English |volume=83 |issue=3 |pages=215–253}}</ref>


==Life==
==Life==
Fortune was born at [[Edrom]], [[Berwickshire]].<ref>{{cite web | url = https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Fortune,_Robert  | title = Fortune, Robert | accessdate = 10  June 2022}}</ref>  After completing his apprenticeship, he was then employed at Moredun House, just to the south of [[Edinburgh]], before then moving on to the [[Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh]]. In 1840 he and his family moved to London to take up a position at the [[Royal Horticultural Society|Horticultural Society of London]]'s garden at [[Chiswick]]. Following the [[Treaty of Nanking]] in 1842, in early 1843 he was commissioned by the H.S. to undertake a three-year plant collection expedition to southern China.
Fortune was born in 1812 in the small settlement or "fermtoun" of Kelloe in the parish of [[Edrom]], [[Berwickshire]].<ref>{{Cite DNB |wstitle= Fortune, Robert |volume= 20 |last= Boulger |first= George Simonds  |author-link= George Simonds Boulger |pages = 50-51 |short=1}}</ref>  After completing his apprenticeship, he was then employed at Moredun House, just to the south of [[Edinburgh]], before then moving on to the [[Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh]]. In 1840, he and his family moved to London to take up a position at the [[Royal Horticultural Society|Horticultural Society of London]]'s garden at [[Chiswick]]. Following the [[Treaty of Nanking]] in 1842, in early 1843, he was commissioned by the Horticultural Society to undertake a three-year plant collection expedition to southern China.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lu|first=Di|date=2026|title=Rethinking the Legitimacy of British Botanizing in Late Qing China (1840-1912)|journal=Journal of British Studies|volume=65|pages=e9|doi=10.1017/jbr.2026.10188|doi-access=free}}</ref>
 
[[File:Map of Fortune's Wanderings in China.jpg|thumb|Map of Fortune's Wanderings in China]]
His travels resulted in the introduction to Europe, Australia and the USA of many new, exotic, beautiful flowers and plants. His most famous accomplishment was the successful introduction, although it was not the first by any means, of Chinese tea plants (''[[Camellia sinensis]]''), along with skilled tea makers, from China to India in 1848 on behalf of the [[British East India Company]]. Robert Fortune worked in China for several years in the period from 1843 to 1861.  
His travels resulted in the introduction to Europe, Australia, and North America of many flowers and plants. His most famous accomplishment was the successful introduction, although it was not the first by any means, of Chinese tea plants (''[[Camellia sinensis]]''), along with skilled tea makers, from China to India in 1848 on behalf of the [[British East India Company]]. Robert Fortune worked in China for several years in the period from 1843 to 1861.  
[[File:Wuyi Shan Fengjing Mingsheng Qu 2012.08.23 09-22-49.jpg|thumb|The remote [[Wuyi Mountains]] in Fujian Province, one of the important tea  regions to which Fortune travelled.]]
[[File:Wuyi Shan Fengjing Mingsheng Qu 2012.08.23 09-22-49.jpg|thumb|The remote [[Wuyi Mountains]] in Fujian Province, one of the important tea  regions to which Fortune travelled.]]
Similar to other European travellers of the period, such as [[Walter Henry Medhurst|Walter Medhurst]], Fortune disguised himself as a [[Chinese people|Chinese]] merchant during several, but not all, of his journeys beyond the newly established [[treaty port]] areas. Not only was Fortune's purchase of tea plants  reportedly forbidden by the [[Chinese government]] of the time, but his travels were also beyond the allowable day's journey from the European treaty ports. Fortune travelled to some areas of China that had seldom been visited by Europeans, including remote areas of [[Fujian]], [[Guangdong]], and [[Jiangsu]] provinces.
Similar to other European travellers of the period, such as [[Walter Henry Medhurst|Walter Medhurst]], Fortune disguised himself as a Chinese merchant during several, but not all, of his journeys beyond the newly established [[treaty port]] areas. Not only was Fortune's purchase of tea plants  reportedly forbidden by the [[Chinese government]] of the time, but his travels were also beyond the allowable [[day's journey]] from the European treaty ports. Fortune travelled to some areas of China that had seldom been visited by Europeans, including remote areas of [[Fujian]], [[Guangdong]], and [[Jiangsu]] provinces.


Fortune employed many different means to obtain plants and seedlings from local tea growers, reputedly the property of the Chinese empire, although this was some 150 years before International biodiversity laws recognised State ownership of such natural resources. He is also known for his use of [[Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward]]'s portable [[Wardian case]]s to sustain the plants. It is also widely reported that he took skilled workers on contract to India who would facilitate the production of tea in the plantations of the [[East India Company]]. With the exception of a few plants which survived in established Indian gardens, most of the Chinese tea plants Fortune introduced in the north-western provinces of India perished. The other reason for the failure in India was that the British preference and fashion was for a strong dark tea brew, which was best made from the local [[Assam tea|Assam subspecies]] (''Camellia sinensis'' var. ''assamica'') and not the selection that Fortune had made in China. The technology and knowledge that was brought over from China was, however, instrumental in the later flourishing of the Indian tea industry in Assam and [[Sri Lankan tea|Sri Lanka]].<ref>
Fortune employed many means to obtain plants and seedlings from local tea growers, although this was some 150 years before international biodiversity laws recognised state ownership of such natural resources. He is also known for his use of [[Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward]]'s portable [[Wardian case]]s to sustain the plants. It is also widely reported that he took skilled workers on contract to India who would facilitate the production of tea in the plantations of the [[East India Company]]. With the exception of a few plants that survived in established Indian gardens, most of the Chinese tea plants Fortune introduced in the northwestern provinces of India perished. The other reason for the failure in India was that the British preference and fashion was for a strong dark tea brew, which was best made from the local [[Assam tea|Assam subspecies]] (''Camellia sinensis'' var. ''assamica'') and not the selection that Fortune had made in China. The technology and knowledge that was brought over from China was, however, instrumental in the later flourishing of the Indian tea industry in Assam and [[Sri Lankan tea|Sri Lanka]].<ref>
{{Citation
{{Citation
  | first = Fa-ti | last = Fan
  | first = Fa-ti | last = Fan
Line 28: Line 29:
  | year = 2004
  | year = 2004
  | pages = 82–3
  | pages = 82–3
}}.</ref><ref>{{Citation
| isbn = 0-674-01143-0
}}. [https://books.google.com/books/about/British_Naturalists_in_Qing_China.html?id=svlLHF3XzVMC 2009 pbk edition]</ref><ref>{{Citation
  | first = EM
  | first = EM
  | last = Cox
  | last = Cox |author-link=Euan Hillhouse Methven Cox
  | title = Plant-hunting in China: A History of Botanical Exploration in China and the Tibetan Marches
  | title = Plant-hunting in China: A History of Botanical Exploration in China and the Tibetan Marches
  | place = London
  | place = London
Line 38: Line 40:
}}.</ref>
}}.</ref>


In subsequent journeys he visited Formosa (modern day [[Taiwan]]) and [[Japan]], and described the culture of the [[silkworm]] and the manufacture of rice. He introduced many trees, shrubs and flowers to the West, including the [[cumquat]], a climbing double yellow [[rose]] ('Fortune's Double Yellow' (syn. Gold of Ophir) which proved a failure in England's climate) and many varieties of tree [[peony|peonies]], [[azalea]]s and [[chrysanthemum]]s. A climbing white rose that he brought back from China in 1850, believed to be a natural cross between ''[[Rosa laevigata]]'' and ''[[Rosa banksiae|R. banksiae]]'', was dubbed ''R. fortuniana'' (syn. ''R. fortuneana'') in his honour. This rose, too, proved a failure in England, preferring warmer climates. Today, both of these roses are still widely grown by antique rose fanciers in mild winter regions. ''Rosa fortuniana'' also serves as a valuable [[rootstock]] in Australia and the southern regions of the United States.
In subsequent journeys, he visited Formosa ([[Taiwan]]) and Japan, and described the culture of the [[silkworm]] and the manufacture of rice. He introduced many trees, shrubs, and flowers to the West, including the [[cumquat]], a climbing double yellow [[rose]] ('Fortune's Double Yellow' (syn. Gold of Ophir) which proved a failure in England's climate), and many varieties of tree [[peony|peonies]], [[azalea]]s and [[chrysanthemum]]s. A climbing white rose that he brought back from China in 1850, believed to be a natural cross between ''[[Rosa laevigata]]'' and ''[[Rosa banksiae|R. banksiae]]'', was dubbed ''R. fortuniana'' (syn. ''R. fortuneana'') in his honour. This rose, too, proved a failure in England, preferring warmer climates. Today, both of these roses are still widely grown by antique rose fanciers in mild winter regions. ''Rosa fortuniana'' also serves as a valuable [[rootstock]] in Australia and the southern regions of the United States.


The incidents of his travels were related in a succession of books. He died in [[London]] in 1880, and is buried in [[Brompton Cemetery]].
He related his travels in a series of books. He died in London in 1880, and is buried in [[Brompton Cemetery]].


==Legacy==
==Legacy==
Fortune is credited with the introduction of a large number of plants, shrubs, and trees to Europe from China.<ref>{{Citation | title = History of European botanical discoveries in China | author-link = Emil Bretschneider | first = Emil | last = Bretschneider | year = 1935 | publisher = KF Koehlers antiquarium | place = Leipzig}}.</ref>
Fortune is credited with the introduction of a large number of plants, shrubs, and trees to Europe from China.<ref>{{Citation | title = History of European botanical discoveries in China | author-link = Emil Bretschneider | first = Emil | last = Bretschneider | year = 1935 | publisher = KF Koehlers antiquarium | place = Leipzig}}.</ref> In 1913, botanists [[Alfred Rehder|Rehder]] and [[E.H.Wilson]] named a plant genus from China, with one species, ''[[Fortunearia|Fortunearia sinensis]]'',<ref>{{cite web |title=''Fortunearia sinensis'' Rehder & E.H.Wilson {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:430654-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |access-date=10 September 2021 |language=en}}</ref> in his honour.<ref>{{cite book | last=Quattrocchi | first=Umberto | title=CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names, Volume II, D–L | publisher=CRC Press | location=Boca Raton, Florida | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-8493-2676-9}}</ref>
 
{{botanist|Fortune|Fortune, Robert}}


==Plants named after Robert Fortune==
==Plants named after Robert Fortune==
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-2}}
*''[[Arundinaria fortunei]]''
*''[[Arundinaria fortunei]]''
*''[[Berberis fortunei]]''
*''[[Cephalotaxus fortunei]]''
*''[[Cephalotaxus fortunei]]''
*''[[Cyrtomium fortunei]]''
*''[[Cyrtomium fortunei]]''
Line 54: Line 57:
*''[[Hosta fortunei]]''
*''[[Hosta fortunei]]''
*''[[Keteleeria fortunei]]''
*''[[Keteleeria fortunei]]''
*''[[Mahonia fortunei]]'' (''Berberis fortunei'')
{{Col-2}}
*''[[Osmanthus × fortunei]]'' {{small|Carrière}} (''O. fragrans'' × ''O. heterophyllus'')
*''[[Osmanthus × fortunei]]'' {{small|Carrière}} (''O. fragrans'' × ''O. heterophyllus'')
*''[[Paulownia fortunei]]''
*''[[Paulownia fortunei]]''
Line 63: Line 64:
*''[[Saxifraga fortunei]]'' {{small|Hook.}}
*''[[Saxifraga fortunei]]'' {{small|Hook.}}
*''[[Trachycarpus fortunei]]'' (has synonym ''Chamaerops fortunei'')
*''[[Trachycarpus fortunei]]'' (has synonym ''Chamaerops fortunei'')
{{Col-end}}
In 1913, botanists [[Alfred Rehder|Rehder]] and [[E.H.Wilson]] named a plant genus from China, with one species, ''[[Fortunearia|Fortunearia sinensis]]'',<ref>{{cite web |title=''Fortunearia sinensis'' Rehder & E.H.Wilson {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:430654-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |access-date=10 September 2021 |language=en}}</ref> in his honour.<ref>{{cite book | last=Quattrocchi | first=Umberto | title=CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names, Volume II, D–L | publisher=CRC Press | location=Boca Raton, Florida | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-8493-2676-9}}</ref>


==Publications==
==Publications==
* [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54720 ''Three Years' Wandering in the Northern Provinces of China, A Visit to the Tea, Silk, and Cotton Countries, with an account of the Agriculture and Horticulture of the Chinese, New Plants, etc.''] (1847, [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]])
* [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54720 ''Three Years' Wandering in the Northern Provinces of China, A Visit to the Tea, Silk, and Cotton Countries, with an account of the Agriculture and Horticulture of the Chinese, New Plants, etc.''] (1847, [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]) [http://www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/features.php?searchterm=029_fortune1.inc&issue=029 Excerpt] [[China Heritage Quarterly]] No. 29 (March 2012) ISSN 1833-8461 .
* [https://archive.org/details/ajourneytoteaco00unkngoog ''A Journey To The Tea Countries Of China; Including Sung-Lo And The Bohea Hills; With A Short Notice Of The East India Company's Tea Plantations In The Himalaya Mountains.''] (1852, John Murray)
* [https://archive.org/details/ajourneytoteaco00unkngoog ''A Journey To The Tea Countries Of China; Including Sung-Lo And The Bohea Hills; With A Short Notice Of The East India Company's Tea Plantations In The Himalaya Mountains.''] (1852, John Murray) [http://www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/features.php?searchterm=029_fortune2.inc&issue=029 Excerpt] China Heritage Quarterly.
* ''[http://ebook.lib.hku.hk/CTWE/B36598719V1/ Two visits to the tea countries of China and the British tea plantations in the Himalaya]: with a narrative of adventures, and a full description of the culture of the tea plant, the agriculture, horticulture, and botany of China'' (1853, John Murray; [[Library of Congress Control Number|LCCN]] [https://lccn.loc.gov/04-32957 04-32957]; National Library: CAT10983833)
* ''[http://ebook.lib.hku.hk/CTWE/B36598719V1/ Two visits to the tea countries of China and the British tea plantations in the Himalaya]: with a narrative of adventures, and a full description of the culture of the tea plant, the agriculture, horticulture, and botany of China'' (1853, John Murray; [[Library of Congress Control Number|LCCN]] [https://lccn.loc.gov/04-32957 04-32957]; National Library: CAT10983833)
* [https://archive.org/details/residencechinese00fort ''A Residence Among the Chinese; Inland, On the Coast and at Sea; being a Narrative of Scenes and Adventures During a Third Visit to China from 1853 to 1856, including Notices of Many Natural Productions and Works of Art, the Culture of Silk, &c.''] (1857, John Murray)
* [https://archive.org/details/residencechinese00fort ''A Residence Among the Chinese; Inland, On the Coast and at Sea; being a Narrative of Scenes and Adventures During a Third Visit to China from 1853 to 1856, including Notices of Many Natural Productions and Works of Art, the Culture of Silk, &c.''] (1857, John Murray)
* [https://archive.org/details/yedoandpeking00fortgoog ''Yedo and Peking; A Narrative of a Journey to the Capitals of Japan and China, with Notices of the Natural Productions, Agriculture, Horticulture and Trade of those Countries and Other Things Met with By the Way''] (1863, John Murray)
* [https://archive.org/details/yedoandpeking00fortgoog ''Yedo and Peking; A Narrative of a Journey to the Capitals of Japan and China, with Notices of the Natural Productions, Agriculture, Horticulture and Trade of those Countries and Other Things Met with By the Way''] (1863, John Murray)


==Biographies==
==References and further reading==
* ''For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History''. By Sarah Rose. Viking: 2010. {{ISBN|0670021520}}
* Mather, Jeffrey. (2010). "[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13645145.2010.500099 Botanising in a Sinocentric world: Robert Fortune's travels in China]". ''Studies in Travel Writing'', 14(3), 257–270. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645145.2010.500099
* ''Robert Fortune, A Plant Hunter in the Orient''. By Alistair Watt. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: 2017. {{ISBN|1842466194}}
* [[Sarah Rose]]. [https://books.google.com/books/about/For_All_the_Tea_in_China.html?id=C8SBbECvbRUC ''For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History'']. Viking: 2010. {{ISBN|0670021520}}
* Watt, Alistair, ''Robert Fortune, A Plant Hunter in the Orient''. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: 2017. {{ISBN|1842466194}} ([https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/R/bo25004461.html distributed by the University of Chicago Press])


{{botanist|Fortune|Fortune, Robert}}
==In Fiction==
Robert Fortune features as a character in [[Sara Sheridan]]'s novel ''The'' ''Secret Mandarin (2009)''


==References==
==Notes==
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Fortune, Robert}}
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Fortune, Robert}}
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}


==External links==
==External links==
{{wikisource author}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{wikispecies|Robert Fortune}}
{{wikispecies|Robert Fortune}}
* The China Vintage Hour [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV00dVnMaPE Robert Fortune's Wanderings in China] (Part 1) YouTube video.
* The China Vintage Hour [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQmApFQwW60 Robert Fortune's Wanderings in China] (Part 2) YouTube video.
* [http://www.plantexplorers.com/Explorers/Biographies/Fortune/ Plant Explorers: Robert Fortune (1812-80)]
* [http://www.plantexplorers.com/Explorers/Biographies/Fortune/ Plant Explorers: Robert Fortune (1812-80)]
* [http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/dms/load/toc/?PID=PPN51254302X Dreijährige Wanderungen in den Nord-Provinzen von China] (German)
* [http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/dms/load/toc/?PID=PPN51254302X Dreijährige Wanderungen in den Nord-Provinzen von China] (German)
* [http://www.magiminiland.org/1800Refs/Fortune.html "Dwarf Trees" from Robert Fortune's Books]
* [http://www.magiminiland.org/1800Refs/Fortune.html "Dwarf Trees" from Robert Fortune's Books]
* Mark O'Neill, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCJRB78Gv8U Robert Fortune, the Scottish Botanist Who Stole the Tea of China] The Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong. YouTube
* {{Librivox author |id=17450}}
* [https://collections.rhs.org.uk/collection/249998 Digitised papers of Robert Fortune, held at the Royal Horticultural Society's Lindley Library. RHS Digital Collections]


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
Line 97: Line 102:
[[Category:1812 births]]
[[Category:1812 births]]
[[Category:1880 deaths]]
[[Category:1880 deaths]]
[[Category:Scottish botanists]]
 
[[Category:Plant hunters]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish botanists]]
[[Category:Botanists active in China]]
[[Category:Botanists active in China]]
[[Category:Botanists active in India]]
[[Category:Botanists active in India]]
[[Category:Botanists active in Japan]]
[[Category:Botanists active in Japan]]
[[Category:Plant collectors]]
[[Category:Scottish plant collectors]]
[[Category:People from Berwickshire]]
[[Category:People from Berwickshire]]
[[Category:Burials at Brompton Cemetery]]
[[Category:Burials at Brompton Cemetery]]
[[Category:People from Duns, Scottish Borders]]
[[Category:People from Duns, Scottish Borders]]
[[Category:Scottish travel writers]]
[[Category:Scottish travel writers]]

Latest revision as of 09:00, 23 February 2026


Robert Fortune
Born(1812-09-16)16 September 1812
Edrom, Berwickshire
Died13 April 1880(1880-04-13) (aged 67)
London
Known forIntroducing plants to Europe, Australia and America
Scientific career
Fieldsbotanist, plant hunter
InstitutionsRoyal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Horticultural Society of London
Author abbrev. (botany)Fortune

Robert Fortune (16 September 1812 – 13 April 1880)[1] was a Scottish botanist, plant hunter and traveller, best known for introducing around 250 new ornamental plants, mainly from China, but also Japan, into the gardens of Britain, Australia, and North America. He also played a role in the development of the tea industry in India in the 19th century. He also imported Japanese chestnuts into the United States, which led to the introduction of chestnut blight to the country 24 years after his death.[2]

Life[edit | edit source]

Fortune was born in 1812 in the small settlement or "fermtoun" of Kelloe in the parish of Edrom, Berwickshire.[3] After completing his apprenticeship, he was then employed at Moredun House, just to the south of Edinburgh, before then moving on to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. In 1840, he and his family moved to London to take up a position at the Horticultural Society of London's garden at Chiswick. Following the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, in early 1843, he was commissioned by the Horticultural Society to undertake a three-year plant collection expedition to southern China.[4]

Map of Fortune's Wanderings in China

His travels resulted in the introduction to Europe, Australia, and North America of many flowers and plants. His most famous accomplishment was the successful introduction, although it was not the first by any means, of Chinese tea plants (Camellia sinensis), along with skilled tea makers, from China to India in 1848 on behalf of the British East India Company. Robert Fortune worked in China for several years in the period from 1843 to 1861.

The remote Wuyi Mountains in Fujian Province, one of the important tea regions to which Fortune travelled.

Similar to other European travellers of the period, such as Walter Medhurst, Fortune disguised himself as a Chinese merchant during several, but not all, of his journeys beyond the newly established treaty port areas. Not only was Fortune's purchase of tea plants reportedly forbidden by the Chinese government of the time, but his travels were also beyond the allowable day's journey from the European treaty ports. Fortune travelled to some areas of China that had seldom been visited by Europeans, including remote areas of Fujian, Guangdong, and Jiangsu provinces.

Fortune employed many means to obtain plants and seedlings from local tea growers, although this was some 150 years before international biodiversity laws recognised state ownership of such natural resources. He is also known for his use of Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward's portable Wardian cases to sustain the plants. It is also widely reported that he took skilled workers on contract to India who would facilitate the production of tea in the plantations of the East India Company. With the exception of a few plants that survived in established Indian gardens, most of the Chinese tea plants Fortune introduced in the northwestern provinces of India perished. The other reason for the failure in India was that the British preference and fashion was for a strong dark tea brew, which was best made from the local Assam subspecies (Camellia sinensis var. assamica) and not the selection that Fortune had made in China. The technology and knowledge that was brought over from China was, however, instrumental in the later flourishing of the Indian tea industry in Assam and Sri Lanka.[5][6]

In subsequent journeys, he visited Formosa (Taiwan) and Japan, and described the culture of the silkworm and the manufacture of rice. He introduced many trees, shrubs, and flowers to the West, including the cumquat, a climbing double yellow rose ('Fortune's Double Yellow' (syn. Gold of Ophir) which proved a failure in England's climate), and many varieties of tree peonies, azaleas and chrysanthemums. A climbing white rose that he brought back from China in 1850, believed to be a natural cross between Rosa laevigata and R. banksiae, was dubbed R. fortuniana (syn. R. fortuneana) in his honour. This rose, too, proved a failure in England, preferring warmer climates. Today, both of these roses are still widely grown by antique rose fanciers in mild winter regions. Rosa fortuniana also serves as a valuable rootstock in Australia and the southern regions of the United States.

He related his travels in a series of books. He died in London in 1880, and is buried in Brompton Cemetery.

Legacy[edit | edit source]

Fortune is credited with the introduction of a large number of plants, shrubs, and trees to Europe from China.[7] In 1913, botanists Rehder and E.H.Wilson named a plant genus from China, with one species, Fortunearia sinensis,[8] in his honour.[9]

The standard author abbreviation Fortune is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[10]

Plants named after Robert Fortune[edit | edit source]

Publications[edit | edit source]

References and further reading[edit | edit source]

  • Mather, Jeffrey. (2010). "Botanising in a Sinocentric world: Robert Fortune's travels in China". Studies in Travel Writing, 14(3), 257–270. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645145.2010.500099
  • Sarah Rose. For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History. Viking: 2010. ISBN 0670021520
  • Watt, Alistair, Robert Fortune, A Plant Hunter in the Orient. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: 2017. ISBN 1842466194 (distributed by the University of Chicago Press)

In Fiction[edit | edit source]

Robert Fortune features as a character in Sara Sheridan's novel The Secret Mandarin (2009)

Notes[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Fortune, Robert" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  2. ↑ Tredici, Peter Del (1 September 2017). "The introduction of Japanese plants into North America". The Botanical Review. 83 (3): 215–253.
  3. ↑ Boulger, George Simonds (1889). "Fortune, Robert" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 20. pp. 50–51.
  4. ↑ Lu, Di (2026). "Rethinking the Legitimacy of British Botanizing in Late Qing China (1840-1912)". Journal of British Studies. 65: e9. doi:10.1017/jbr.2026.10188.
  5. ↑ Fan, Fa-ti (2004), British Naturalists in Qing China: Science, Empire, and Cultural Encounter, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 82–3, ISBN 0-674-01143-0. 2009 pbk edition
  6. ↑ Cox, EM (1945), Plant-hunting in China: A History of Botanical Exploration in China and the Tibetan Marches, London: Scientific Book Guild, p. 89.
  7. ↑ Bretschneider, Emil (1935), History of European botanical discoveries in China, Leipzig: KF Koehlers antiquarium.
  8. ↑ "Fortunearia sinensis Rehder & E.H.Wilson | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  9. ↑ Quattrocchi, Umberto (2000). CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names, Volume II, D–L. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. ISBN 978-0-8493-2676-9.
  10. ↑ IPNI.  Fortune.

External links[edit | edit source]

Retrieved from "https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Fortune&oldid=455621"
Discover more