Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 2014 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
3 boxes Notes
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born Cyprus 1907; died 2003
Hagop "David" Davidian graduated in botany from Edinburgh University in 1946 and in 1947 was offered a post at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh by Sir William Wright Smith, Regius Keeper, to work on the taxonomy of rhododendrons. Rhododendrons became his life long specialism and enthusiasm. He contributed regularly to the RHS Rhododendron and Camellia Yearbook and at one stage identified 2,000 rhododendrons from the Arnold Arboretum in the USA. Honoured twice by the RHS and in Sweden, after his retirement in 1972 he set to work writing, in four volumes, books on the genus based on the Balfourian system.
Source; cuttings and obituary files
D.W.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
•2 boxes of notes on Rhododendrons
•1 box containing notes on rhododendrons, a copy of an ecological study on the vegetation of Cyprus, first degree notes, a list of plant explorations in Western China, Lothian Plant collecting field notes, a survey of the flowering plants and their distribution in the Lothians, and a personal letter
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Collection is open to researchers by appointment, see (right click, open link in new tab:) https://www.rbge.org.uk/science-and-conservation/library-and-archives/visiting-the-library/
Conditions governing reproduction
Permission required from RBGE.
Language of material
- English