Stonebreaker. Mukdenia rossii, Ross's Saxifrage, and Sphaerophoria scripta, Long Hoverfly, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Yep! I found him. The Reverend John Ross (1842-1915). First I'd banged my head with David Gledhill's fine The Names of Plants, wonderfully helpful book always but sometimes just plain wrong or lacunous. I'd looked up the 'rossii' of Mukdenia rossii, Saxifrage from Mukden, growing in the Botanical Garden here. But neither of the two Rosses Gledhill gives for plant designations seemed apt for our flower. So I went to that interesting and helpful 'Tropicos' site. It led me from Mukdenia rossii to Saxifraga rossii. Clicking on the relevant description (1878) via Biodiversity Heritage Library, I read that our plant had been found on the 'Hills south of the Corean Gate, and elsewhere "on almost inaccessible and bare rocks, called by some 'Mandschurian Ivy'".' Cursively Daniel Oliver (1830-1918) adds the name of one 'J. Ross'.
Gadding about a bit on the internet led me to our Scotsman, Presbyterian missionary to 'Manchuria'. Ross worked in this area from 1872 to 1910 (he made the first translation of the Bible into Korean) and was also something of a naturalist and anthropologist. His writing has a highly engaging style and is full of remarks on the natural phenomena of his travels. Exemplary is 'Visit to the Corean Gate' in Chinese Recorder 5 (1874), 347-54. In that article he doesn't mention this Mukdenia (named for the city of that name, now called Shenyang) but he does remark on his climbing steep mountains - perhaps given a toehold by that Stonebreaker - and that's quite in character with Oliver's description. So if you've got Gledhill's book, pencil in this name as a third Ross!
In the Garden, this Saxifrage was being visited by a Long Hoverfly, Sphaerophoria scripta. The wind was cold, but no doubt less chilly than the one Ross describes at the 'Corean Gate'.
Stonebreaker. Mukdenia rossii, Ross's Saxifrage, and Sphaerophoria scripta, Long Hoverfly, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Yep! I found him. The Reverend John Ross (1842-1915). First I'd banged my head with David Gledhill's fine The Names of Plants, wonderfully helpful book always but sometimes just plain wrong or lacunous. I'd looked up the 'rossii' of Mukdenia rossii, Saxifrage from Mukden, growing in the Botanical Garden here. But neither of the two Rosses Gledhill gives for plant designations seemed apt for our flower. So I went to that interesting and helpful 'Tropicos' site. It led me from Mukdenia rossii to Saxifraga rossii. Clicking on the relevant description (1878) via Biodiversity Heritage Library, I read that our plant had been found on the 'Hills south of the Corean Gate, and elsewhere "on almost inaccessible and bare rocks, called by some 'Mandschurian Ivy'".' Cursively Daniel Oliver (1830-1918) adds the name of one 'J. Ross'.
Gadding about a bit on the internet led me to our Scotsman, Presbyterian missionary to 'Manchuria'. Ross worked in this area from 1872 to 1910 (he made the first translation of the Bible into Korean) and was also something of a naturalist and anthropologist. His writing has a highly engaging style and is full of remarks on the natural phenomena of his travels. Exemplary is 'Visit to the Corean Gate' in Chinese Recorder 5 (1874), 347-54. In that article he doesn't mention this Mukdenia (named for the city of that name, now called Shenyang) but he does remark on his climbing steep mountains - perhaps given a toehold by that Stonebreaker - and that's quite in character with Oliver's description. So if you've got Gledhill's book, pencil in this name as a third Ross!
In the Garden, this Saxifrage was being visited by a Long Hoverfly, Sphaerophoria scripta. The wind was cold, but no doubt less chilly than the one Ross describes at the 'Corean Gate'.