Species Maclura pomifera

For William Maclure (1763–1840), Scottish-born North American geologist, educational reformer, agriculturist, traveller and president of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (1817–1839). Through his partnership with a London firm of US merchants, he owned businesses in England and travelled extensively in Europe. In 1800 he joined the American Philosophical Society and thereafter devoted his life to science and philanthropy. This included representing US citizens on a United States Commission in Paris (1803–1807) concerning their losses resulting from the French Revolution, surveying and making the first widely available geographical chart of the United States (1809), and introducing agricultural colleges in the latter country and Spain.