Robert Sweet (botanist)

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Robert Sweet (1783–20 January 1835) was an English botanist, horticulturist and ornithologist.

Born at Cockington near Torquay, Devonshire, England in 1783, Sweet worked as a gardener from the age of sixteen, and became foreman or partner in a series of nurseries. He was associated with nurseries at Stockwell, Fulham and Chelsea. In 1812 he joined Colvills, the famous Chelsea nursery, and was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society. By 1818 he was publishing horticultural and botanical works.

He published a number of beautifully illustrated works on plants cultivatd in British gardens and hothouses. The fine plates were mainly drawn by Edwin Dalton Smith, a botanical artist, who was attached to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. His works include Hortus Suburbanus Londinensis (1818), Geraniaceae (five volumes) (1820–30), Cistineae, Sweet's Hortus Britannicus (1826–27), Flora Australasica (1827–28) and British Botany (with H. Weddell) (1831). He died at Chelsea, London in January 1835.

He was charged with receiving a batch of plants allegedly stolen from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. It was suggested that this was an attempt to frame him by an official at Kew whom Sweet had criticised. He was acquitted after a well-publicised trial.

Robert Sweet received high praise from his contemporaries at his trial and was described as possibly the first practical botanist.

[edit] Publications

• The British Flower Garden : coloured figures & descriptions of the most ornamental & curious hardy herbaceous plants Robert Sweet, drawings by Edwin Dalton Smith. (W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, London 1823-1829)
• British Warblers

Sweet is the author of a number of plants, including:

Abutilon auritum (Link) Sweet Abutilon grandifolium (Willd.) Sweet Abutilon indicum (L.) Sweet Indian Lantern Flower Agonis flexuosa (Willd.) Sweet Peppermint Argemone ochroleuca Sweet Mexican Poppy Babiana angustifolia Sweet Banksia dryandroides Sweet Dryandra-leaved Banksia Callistemon glaucus (Bonpl.) Sweet Coreopsis grandiflora Sweet American Tickseed Cyanotis axillaris (L.) Sweet Dillwynia pungens (Sweet) Benth. Hakea ferruginea Sweet

Hovea chorizemifolia (Sweet) DC. Holly-leaved Hovea Ipomoea cairica (L.) Sweet Coast Morning Glory Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet Lablab Bean Lachenalia mutabilis Sweet Moraea flaccida Sweet One-leaf Cape Tulip Orthrosanthus multiflorus Sweet Morning Iris Penaeaceae Sweet ex Guillemin Senna barclayana (Sweet) Randell Sphenotoma gracile (R.Br.) Sweet Swamp Paper-heath Wahlenbergia stricta (R.Br.) Sweet Austral Bluebell

[edit] References

• Hall, Norman (1978). Botanists of the Eucalypts. CSIRO, Melbourne. ISBN 0-643-00271-5. 

[edit] External links

• University of Delaware Library

Persondata
NAME	Sweet, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	botanist
DATE OF BIRTH	1783
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cockington, Devonshire, England
DATE OF DEATH	20 January 1835
PLACE OF DEATH	Chelsea, London