The History of the Botanical Exploration

In this article Tony miller surveys the course that scientific botanical exploration has taken on the Soqotra islands over the last 200 years. The article also has sections that deal with floristic aspects of the vegetation and its conservation.

The first collections of plants and observations on the flora were made by Leut. J.R.Wellsted (1805-42) and Capt. Haines of the East India Company's survey ship Palinurus while undertaking a survey of Soqotra for the Indian Government in 1834. Wellsted (1835) made a detailed account of the island and included notes on the traditional methods of collecting the "Socotrine aloes" (Aloe perryi) as well as providing the first description of the Dragon's Blood tree, Dracaena cinnabari (calling it Pterocarpus draco) although it was not scientifically described until later. After Wellsted's visit there are few records of the island being visited until the latter part of the century.

The French collector L-H Boivin (1808-52) briefly visited the island in 1847 whilst on an expedition exploring the east coast of Africa. Commander Wykeham Perry (1846-94) of the British Royal Navy visited the island in 1876 and collected non-flowering plants of the Socotrine Aloes. The following year Dr J Collins a British Economic botanist, whilst returning from Singapore where he was superintending india-rubber plantations, also collected some non-flowering specimens. Both sets of living plants were presented to the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew but it was not until 1880, when the British botanist Balfour visited the island, that flowering material was obtained and the plant was finally described as Aloe perryi Baker (1881) in honour of its first collector.