James Drummond (botanist) - Legacy

Legacy

James Drummond was the author of several species of plant:

• Boronia molloyae Tall Boronia
• Dasypogon hookeri, J.Drumm., 1843 Pineapple bush
• Drakaea livida, J.Drumm., 1842
• Diuris picta, J.Drumm., 1853
• Dricrastylis reticulata, J.Drumm. ex Harv., 1855
• Dicrastylis stoechas, J.Drumm. ex Harv., 1855
• Gastrolobium leakeanum
• Hakea victoria, Royal Hakea
• Macropidia fumosa, J. Drumm. ex Harv., 1855
• Verticordia grandis, Scarlet Featherflower

and, at least, one genus Lepilaena, J. Drumm. ex Harv., 1855

Over one hundred plant species were named in his honour, around sixty of which are still valid. Hall (1978) quotes Joseph Maiden as writing "He was far and away the most successful collector of Western Australian plants of his time." This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation J.Drumm. when citing a botanical name.

Mount Drummond was named in Drummond's honour by John Septimus Roe in 1848. Roe, who was exploring the Mount Barren area is search of pastoral land at the same time that Drummond was collecting there, gave the hill its name after finding fresh tracks of Drummond there. In 1993 the Mundaring district office of the Department of Conservation and Land Management purchased 493 ha of land 10 km west of Bolgart it was named the Drummond Nature Reserve in his honour.

In 1948 a memorial in honour of John Gilbert and James Drummond was erected in bush near Drakewood by ornithological and historical societies. A memorial seat in Kings Park and Botanic Garden commemorates his life and work.

James Drummond's brother Thomas Drummond, also a naturalist, accompanied Sir John Franklin in his explorations into the Northwest Territories of Canada in 1819-1822. Of his sons, Johnston became a respected botanical collector in his own right; James became a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council, and John became the colony's first Inspector of Native Police. His youngest daughter Euphemia was famed in her lifetime as the last surviving settler to arrive on the Parmelia (barque) from 1905 until her death in 1920.