Person

Nelson, David (? - 1789)

Died
20 June 1789
Kupang, Timor
Occupation
Botanical collector and Naval officer

Summary

David Nelson, formerly a gardener at Kew Botanic Gardens, accompanied James Cook's third voyage of exploration in the Pacific Ocean (1776-1780). Sponsored by Joseph Banks, he was the official plant collector for the voyage. In company with William Anderson, Nelson collected plant specimens in Tasmania dutoing this voyage. As the first to collect the type material of Eucalyptus obliqua on Bruny Island, off the coast of Tasmania, he greatly contributed to the study of eucalyptus. Nelson was later botanical collector in H.M.S. Bounty under Captain William Bligh. Nelson was responsible for the first apple trees and potatoes planted in Tasmania. The plant material he collected on this journey from Australia, Cape of Good Hope and Timor, are now in the British Museum. Loyal to Bligh, Nelson was one of the party set adrift by the mutineers of Bounty in 1789. Although he survived the epic voyage in the open boat, he died of fever and exposure shortly after reaching Timor. Nelson is commemorated in the plant genus Nelsonia (Acanthaceae) and in Mount Nelson, Tasmania.

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Details

Chronology

July 1776 - August 1780
Career position - Plant collector in H.M.S. Resolution
1787 - 1789
Career position - Plant collector in H.M.A.V. Bounty
1788
Taxonomy event - Eucalyptus obliqua described by L'Herit. (1788), of which Nelson collected the type.

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Published resources

Book Sections

  • Mabberley, R. D., 'David Nelson, d.1789' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Details

Resources

See also

  • Hall, Norman, Botanists of the Eucalypts: short biographies of people who have named eucalypts, whose names have been given to species or who have collected type material (Melbourne: CSIRO, 1978), 101 pp. Details
  • Nelson, E. Charles, 'Australian plants cultivated in England before 1788', Telopea, 2 (4) (1983), 347-53, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/264397#page/5/mode/1up. Details

Christine Moje

Created: 18 February 2013, Last modified: 28 May 2026

EOAS ID: biogs/P005332b.htm

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