Genus Aitonia
Pictures from Observations
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For William Aiton (1731–1793), English gardener at the botanical garden in Chelsea in 1754 and responsible for the management of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew from 1759. He substantially increased the Kew Gardens flower collections and was mainly instrumental in sending Francis Masson to the Cape in 1772; one of the earliest collectors. In 1783 he was given responsibility for the royal forcing and pleasure gardens at Kew and Richmond serving King George III. He published Hortus Kewensis (1789), a catalogue of plants at Kew, which describes 5 600 species in three volumes, with 13 plates. His son, William Townsend Aiton (1766–1849), who succeeded his father at Kew, edited the second edition, published in 1810–1813 in five volumes.