The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700

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Isaac Rand and the Apothecaries' Physic Garden at Chelsea

Secondary Title (i.e. Proceedings Title): Periodical Title:Garden History Publication Type: Authors:Hunting, Penelope Editors: Publisher: Place of Publication: Publication Date:2002 Alternate Date (i.e. Conference Date): Volume:30 Issue:1 Start Page:1 End Page:23 Abstract: Descriptors/Keywords: ISBN: URL:
Documents in Print Item: No Documents Listed in Print Item Attached People: Mentions or references - Boerhaave, Herman (1668-1738)
Mentions or references - Sloane, Hans (1660-1753)
Subject of/in a document - Rand, Isaac (1674-1743)
 Location(s): Subject of discourse or work of art - Chelsea Physic Garden (Site) -> Chelsea (Settlement)
 Bibliographic Source(s): No Bibliographic Sources Attached To This Item
 Items Which List This As A Bibliographic Source: None Images Contained: No Images Attached To This Item
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 Annotation:The apothecary Isaac Rand (1674-1743) was the first Horti Praefectus et Praelector Botanicus Chelseiani - Director and Lecturer in Botany at the Society Physic Garden, Chelsea. The Garden, established in 1673, became pre-eminent among the botanic gardens of Europe in the eighteenth century following a favourable lease granted by Sir Hans Sloane in 1722 and the appointments of Rand Philip as Director and Philip Miller as gardener. Rand was renowned as a diligent botanist and enthusiastic 'herbarizer' and he was responsible for presenting nine hundred specimens of new plants grown at the Chelsea Garden to the Royal Society. He compiled two catalogues of the Garden (1730, 1739) and established an exchange of plants and seeds with Professor Boerhaave of the Leiden Physic Garden, the Netherlands. Rand encouraged artists such as Elizabeth Blackwell and Georg Dionysius Ehret to draw plants cultivated at the Physic Garden in prime condition. He bequeathed his hortus siccus and library to the Society of Apothecaries and the plant collector Dr William Houstoun named the shrub Randia in his honour.