Soufriere Tree

Enough money has been raised to start the Botanical Illustrations for the Guidebook, so a huge thanks to those who have donated.

This tree is the National Flower for St Vincent and the Grenadines so it is important that it features in the Guidebook; and of course, it grows in the Botanical Garden.

But there is a connection to Alexander Anderson, and this article on Internet Archive by Howard and Klausen is about his bringing the tree to the Garden. In essence it notes that the Soufriere Plant (Spachea elegans) was brought to the Garden by Anderson in 1791 from the Essequibo River area of what was then known as British Guiana; he had seen the tree some 200 miles up the River and collected seeds. He initially named the plant Cullenia malpighiodes after Dr William Cullen, a chemistry professor at Edinburgh University (Anderson took his classes).

There is a legend that Anderson collected the tree from the slopes of the Soufriere volcano in 1804, but this is not the case. Anderson was however, the first person to record a trip to the summit and crater of the volcano which he did in 1784. The record was falsely attributed to Mr James Anderson as An Account of Morne Garou. The rpeot has been digitised and is available here.

The Soufriere Flower appeared on a 1972 stamp from St Vincent - see below