Michael Pakenham Edgeworth (1812–1881) was an Irish botanist who specialized in seed plants and ferns, and spent most of his life and work in India.He was born in County Longford, Ireland in 1812, one of twenty-two children to Richard Lovell Edgeworth. His mother’s name was Frances. His half-sister, born to Honora Edgeworth, was the novelist Maria Edgeworth. Among his other siblings were Honora (sister), Fanny (sister), Lucy (sister), and Francis (brother). With his wife Christina he had a daughter named Harriet. Although he is known to have had an estate of 1,659 acres in County Longford, Ireland, at a young age he left for India in 1831 to join the Indian Civil Service of the British Colonial regime. Edgeworth’s post encompassed an area from Lahore to Madras. Being possessed of a curious spirit, Edgeworth travelled widely throughout India[5] and the island of Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka) where he collected plants and made notes. In 1850 he was made the Chief of Police of the English settlement Punjab. In addition to his interest in botany, he also wrote about Indian tongues[6] and culture, topography, and antiquities.
But he wasn’t always in India; as a correspondence[7] from Charles Darwin to J.D. Hooker mentions a conversation held between himself, Edgeworth and biologists John Lubbock and George Charles Wallich, at a meeting of the Linnean Society of London (18 April 1861) less than two years after the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (22 November 1859). Unfortunately, very little of the content of this conversation is revealed in the letter.
Already a member? Log in here
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam suscipit rutrum dapibus. Nunc imperdiet convallis nisl vel porttitor. Aliquam ultricies vulputate quam, eget hendrerit quam tempor non. Donec et dignissim purus, at viverra nulla. Morbi maximus elit ac lacus iaculis varius. Phasellus sit amet ullamcorper diam, non lobortis orci. Curabitur dapibus, risus nec semper cursus, felis tellus interdum dolor, sodales gravida quam ipsum at magna. Quisque vel rutrum turpis. Integer pharetra metus orci, ac vulputate mauris egestas eu. Quisque sagittis tincidunt facilisis. Praesent tortor massa, sagittis eu risus vel, euismod dapibus purus. Donec condimentum tortor vitae ipsum ultricies, condimentum consequat nunc bibendum. Sed vel scelerisque purus. Morbi nec neque a ipsum viverra pretium. Proin vitae consequat tellus. Quisque molestie erat sapien, sed lacinia tortor euismod ullamcorper.
Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. In ut enim lacus. Nulla tristique interdum lacus, quis gravida diam dapibus non. Aenean non velit posuere, accumsan tellus a, faucibus justo. Donec suscipit nec mi vel scelerisque. Suspendisse varius tincidunt metus, sed ornare nisi aliquet vitae. Integer bibendum enim orci, in tincidunt nibh pretium eget. Donec commodo semper leo eu volutpat. Donec rhoncus orci fringilla lacus bibendum, quis suscipit sapien viverra. Integer sit amet ex vitae ipsum fringilla pellentesque eu non eros. Morbi vitae facilisis dolor. Curabitur dictum massa auctor mi mollis porttitor.
Aliquam malesuada nunc maximus lorem volutpat, id elementum felis egestas. Suspendisse euismod sed neque ut volutpat. Fusce vulputate, elit nec fringilla sagittis, lacus dolor vestibulum elit, sed dictum erat turpis in orci. Donec ornare risus eu pulvinar feugiat. Pellentesque molestie scelerisque lectus, vitae placerat felis placerat non. Vestibulum sagittis massa justo, in pulvinar orci condimentum sed. Nullam sodales hendrerit magna eget blandit.
Vivamus tincidunt augue a consectetur commodo. In facilisis viverra massa, ac suscipit diam bibendum in. Ut consectetur turpis vitae tellus mollis, sit amet tristique orci viverra. Fusce blandit posuere vestibulum. Vestibulum lacinia nunc in tortor scelerisque, nec mattis massa porta. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Phasellus rhoncus fringilla eros, vel consequat dui dignissim nec.
In ut lacus vel libero egestas euismod. Praesent facilisis, massa ut tincidunt iaculis, est velit iaculis mauris, id rutrum enim diam feugiat ex. Nullam ut neque quis diam luctus interdum in non arcu. Phasellus aliquet mauris sed metus sollicitudin, sed commodo sapien finibus. Nam consequat, nunc eu rutrum ultrices, metus lectus eleifend orci, vel placerat dolor magna non justo. Sed a urna eu tortor porttitor rutrum. Sed sed dignissim nunc. Morbi imperdiet convallis tempor. Donec tincidunt massa a orci tincidunt, sed rhoncus lacus gravida. Praesent congue semper massa.
