The Paradisus Londinensis


The Paradisus Londonensis is a book dated 1805–1808, printed by D.N. Shury, and published by William Hooker. It consists of coloured illustrations of 117 plants drawn by William Hooker, with explanatory text by Richard Anthony Salisbury.

Publication

The Paradisus Londinensis was constructed as two volumes, each of two parts. The plates were in one part, the text in the other. The title page of the first volume and part bears the date 1805 and identifies the illustrator and publisher as Hooker. The title page of the second part identifies the author of the text as Salisbury. It has often been catalogued as 1805–1807, although some later plates are dated 1808. The International Plant Names Index dates the parts as follows:

New botanical names

The Paradisus Londinensis is a significant source of botanical names, with around 150 attributed to Salisbury on the basis of this publication. Some have been superseded, but others are still in use. The names include:
The Paradisus Londinensis preserves a record of a dispute between Salisbury and James Edward Smith which had consequences for the acceptance of botanical names first published by Salisbury, in this work and others. Smith and Salisbury had become friends while studying at the University of Edinburgh. Later in life, in 1802, they quarrelled. Smith was a strong supporter of Linnaeus's systema sexuale for classifying plants. He had bought Linnaeus's entire collection of books, manuscripts and specimens, and founded the Linnean Society in 1788. Salisbury on the other hand was a supporter of the natural system of classification, in particular that of Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, published in Genera Plantarum in 1789 – the system used in Paradisus Londinensis.
In his 1807 work, An introduction to physiological and systematical botany, Smith had used newly discovered plants from the west coast of British Columbia, Canada to support the view that the tepals of lilioid monocots were actually sepals, since their flowers had what Smith regarded as six internal petals. In The Paradisus Londinensis, in the notes to number 98, dated 1 March 1808, Salisbury named these plants as the genus Hookera with two species H. coronaria and H. pulchella. Salisbury pointed out that the supposed internal petals were actually stamens. He also disputed Smith's association of the plant with Agapanthus, placing it instead with Allium. He says "I regret much to dissent so often from the celebrated lecturer ".
Shortly afterwards in 1808, Smith named a moss genus Hookeria and read to the Linnean Society a formal description of a new genus, based on the same species as Salisbury's Hookera coronaria, naming the genus Brodiaea in honour of Scottish botanist James Brodie. George Boulger, writing in the Dictionary of National Biography, says that Smith's actions were deliberately intended to deprive Salisbury of credit for the genus Hookera. In the text for figure 117, dated 1 September 1808, Salisbury says that "Smith, to suit his own purpose, was utterly silent" on the prior naming of the genus by Salisbury, and that Smith's "multiplied acts of injustice to me whether open or concealed, I sincerely forgive."
If it was Smith's deliberate intention to suppress Salisbury's botanical names by giving a moss a confusingly similar name and by renaming Hookera to Brodiaea, he was, initially at least, successful. James Britten, writing much later in 1886, argued that the then established name Brodiaea should be replaced by Hookera, which had priority. However, Smith's Hookeria and Brodiaea had become so widely used that they were made conserved names, and Hookera was not reinstated. Salisbury's epithet coronaria in his Hookera coronaria is still used in the combination Brodiaea coronaria., Hookera pulchella is considered as a synonym, either in full or in part, for Dichelostemma congestum or Dichelostemma capitatum, and the epithet pulchella is not used, although Britten had argued for its priority.

Contents

The 117 plants illustrated in The Paradisus Londinensis are listed below. Salisbury's original orthography is given in brackets where different from modern usage. Accepted names as of 2013 are taken from The Plant List, unless otherwise referenced. An asterisk indicates that no accepted name has been found.
  1. Trillium grandiflorum Salisb.
  2. Protea acuifolia *
  3. Bryophyllum calycinum = Bryophyllum pinnatum Oken
  4. Vaccinium buxifolium *
  5. Magnolia annonifolia = Magnolia figo DC. var. figo
  6. Gompholobium psoraleifolium *
  7. Podalyria argentea Salisb.
  8. Gladiolus concolor = Gladiolus tristis L.
  9. Aphyllanthes juncea = Aphyllanthes monspeliensis L.
  10. Moraea odora = Moraea fugax Jacq. subsp. fugax
  11. Protea glaucophylla = Protea acaulos Reich.
  12. Crossandra undulifolia = Crossandra infundibuliformis Nees
  13. Coronilla viminalis Salisb.
  14. Castalia magnifica = Nymphaea magnifica *
  15. Eucalyptus obliqua L'Hér.
  16. Dahlia sambucifolia = Dahlia pinnata Cav.
  17. Dioscorea tamifolia = Dioscorea bulbifera L.
  18. Reaumuria linifolia *
  19. Dahlia bidentifolia = Dahlia coccinea Cav.
  20. Convolvulus pannifolius *
  21. Leucojum autumnale = Acis autumnalis Sweet
  22. Hibiscus grandiflorus *
  23. Pelargonium nummulifolium *
  24. Protea mucronifolia *
  25. Cacalia bicolor = Gynura bicolor DC.
  26. Campanula alliariifolia Willd.
  27. Protea lacticolor *
  28. Swainsona coronillifolia = Swainsona galegifolia R.Br.
  29. Columnea rotundifolia = Columnea scandens L.
  30. Crocus serotinus Salisb.
  31. Yucca recurvifolia = Yucca gloriosa var. tristis Carrière
  32. Sabatia gracilis = Sabatia campanulata var. gracilis *
  33. Hibiscus acerifolius = Hibiscus syriacus L.
  34. Eustoma silenifolium = Eustoma exaltatum Salisb.
  35. Trillium foetidum = Trillium erectum L. var. erectum
  36. Phyllodoce taxifolia = Phyllodoce caerulea Bab.
  37. Protea longifolia *
  38. Magnolia conspicua = Magnolia denudata Desr.
  39. Pelargonium pulchellum *
  40. Bromelia aquilega = Aechmea aquilega Griseb.
  41. Goodia lotifolia Salisb.
  42. Woodfordia floribunda = Woodfordia fruticosa Kurz
  43. Magnolia auricularis = Magnolia fraseri Walter
  44. Menziesia globularis *
  45. Convolvulus farinosus L.
  46. Gardenia crassicaulis = Gardenia thunbergia Thunb.
  47. Lilium concolor Salisb.
  48. Billardiera mutabilis Salisb.
  49. Cymburus mutabilis = Stachytarpheta mutabilis Vahl
  50. Justicia virgularis = Anisacanthus quadrifidus Nees
  51. Clitoria calcarigera *
  52. Crinum yucciflorum = Crinum zeylanicum L.
  53. Cymburus urticifolius = Stachytarpheta urticifolia Sims
  54. Ornithoglossum glaucum = Ornithoglossum viride Dryand. ex W.T.Aiton
  55. Hamelia grandiflora = Hamelia ventricosa Sw.
  56. Lacathea florida *
  57. Dianthus pomeridianus L. *
  58. Chamaenerion halimifolium = Epilobium latifolium L.
  59. Tradescantia crassifolia Cav.
  60. Astrantia helleborifolia = Astrantia maxima Pall
  61. Bignonia grandiflora = Campsis grandiflora K.Schum.
  62. Dianthus collinus Waldst. & Kit.
  63. Carpolyza spiralis = Strumaria spiralis W.T.Aiton
  64. Anneslia falcifolia = Calliandra houstoniana Standl. var. anomala Barneby
  65. Rothmannia longiflora Salisb.
  66. Oxalis glandulitega *
  67. Erodendrum amplexicaule = Protea amplexicaulis *
  68. Castalia pygmaea = Nymphaea tetragona Georgi
  69. Southwellia nobilis *
  70. Erodendrum tenax *
  71. Claytonia spathulifolia = Claytonia caroliniana Michx. var. lewisii McNeill
  72. Begonia nitida = Begonia minor Jacq.
  73. Hibbertia grossulariifolia *
  74. Leucojum pulchellum = Leucojum aestivum L. subsp. pulchellum Briq.
  75. Euryspermum salicifolium *
  76. Erodendrum formosum = Protea formosa *
  77. Stylidium glandulosum Salisb.
  78. Paeonia edulis = Paeonia lactiflora Pall.
  79. Linum hypericifolium Salisb.
  80. Rhododendron officinale = Rhododendron aureum Georgi
  81. Ipomoea repanda = Quamoclit repanda Roberty
  82. Myrobroma fragrans = Vanilla planifolia Jacks. ex Andrews
  83. Corybas aconitiflorus Salisb.
  84. Pancratium nervifolium = Proiphys amboinensis Herb.
  85. Prenanthes suavis *
  86. Pancratium tiariflorum = Pancratium zeylanicum L.
  87. Magnolia gracilis = Magnolia liliiflora Desr.
  88. Bouvardia triphylla = Bouvardia ternifolia Schltdl.
  89. Calypso borealis = Calypso bulbosa Oakes
  90. Mesembryanthemum acinaciforme *
  91. Jatropha multifida L.
  92. Smithia sensitiva Aiton
  93. Euclinia longiflora Salisb.
  94. Hibiscus tiliifolius = Hibiscus tiliaceus L.
  95. Byblis liniflora Salisb.
  96. Curcuma aromatica Salisb.
  97. Anigozanthos grandiflorus = Anigozanthos flavidus DC
  98. Hookera coronaria = Brodiaea coronaria Jeps.
  99. Cephaëlis peduncularis = Psychotria peduncularis Steyerm.
  100. Correa cotinifolia = Correa alba Andrews
  101. Rosa simplicifolia = Rosa persica Michx. ex J. F. Gmel.
  102. Abroma fastuosa = Abroma augusta L.f.
  103. Chlamysporum juncifolium = Thysanotus juncifolius J.H.Willis & Court
  104. Diapensia obtusifolia = Diapensia lapponica L.
  105. Euryspermum grandiflorum = Leucadendron grandiflorum *
  106. Crocus lageniflorus = Crocus flavus Weston subsp. flavus
  107. Primula sedifolia = Vitaliana primuliflora Bertol.
  108. Erodendrum turbiniflorum *
  109. Lachnaea glauca = Lachnaea pomposa Beyers
  110. Orchis bracteata = Dactylorhiza viridis R.M.Bateman, Pridgeon & M.W.Chase var. virescens ined.
  111. Embothrium speciosum *
  112. Dianthus fragrans M.Bieb.
  113. Salvia bicolor *
  114. Podalyria oleifolia Salisb.
  115. Adina globiflora = Adina pilulifera Franch. ex Drake
  116. Leucadendron grandiflorum *
  117. Hookera pulchella = Dichelostemma congestum Kunth, or Dichelostemma capitatum Alph.Wood subsp. capitatum