Bartram, John
March 23, 1699
Marple, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
September 22, 1777
Kingsessing, Pennsylvania
Botanist and gardener
John Bartram was "the greatest contemporary 'natural botanist' in the world."
Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus.
John Bartram, an eighteenth-century botanist (a specialist in plant life), was well known in colonial America and Europe. He grew up in Pennsylvania, where he was inspired by the beautiful countryside to study nature. As a young man, Bartram ventured to the nearby city of Philadelphia, one of the scientific centers of colonial America, where he met important scientific figures of the time, including James Logan. He introduced Bartram to the study of botany and, through Logan, Bartram became acquainted with the work of the great Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus. Bartram is best known for the five-acre botanical garden, called "the Garden," that he began planting at Kingsessing, Pennsylvania, in 1728. While conducting a correspondence with English botanist Peter Collinson, Bartram imported (to bring from a foreign external source) rare and exotic plant specimens. (A specimen is an individual item typical of a whole.) Because of its extensive variety of plant species, the Garden was the pride of the colonial American scientific community. While conducting expeditions throughout the countryside of the eastern colonies, Bartram commented not only on the plant life, but on the cultural aspects of the colonies as well.
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