Francis Masson (1741-1805)

Early 18th century botanical collections consisted principally of dried material, but a growing royal interest in botany meant living material was both desirable and possible to collect. Francis Masson, a gardener at Kew, was the first Kew collector to be entrusted with this mission. He brought us more than 1,000 species.
Joseph Banks arranged for Masson to travel to South Africa with Captain Cook on his second circumnavigation of the globe. Prodigious collection ensued, including some of our most cherished plants: geraniums, mesembryanthemums, and the Bird-of-paradise Flower (Strelitzia reginae) named in honour of Queen Charlotte.
A later trip to Atlantic islands failed, however – fraught by war, conscription, and imprisonment. When he finally sailed home, a hurricane took what remained of Masson’s collection.

His second trip to South Africa was heavily constrained by a much changed political climate, in which Masson had to collect clandestinely in forbidden areas. He risked his life to collect the seed of the Arum Lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica) in Cape Town while the Dutch were at war with the British. After dedicating 33 years to collecting plants for Kew he unfortunately froze to death in North America.

Masson’s most celebrated legacy at Kew is a specimen of Encephalartos altensteinii, which he brought back from his first plant hunting trip in 1775. One of the oldest pot plants in the world, you can discover its knobbly prostrate trunk at the far end of the Palm House.
Massonia from South Africa is named in his honour.

Fellow of the Linnean Society 1796

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