During the early part of the twentieth century members of the former Moray Field Club, originally founded by a Shetland Botanist, Thomas Edmonstone, in 1844, continued to collect and record plants on a Parish basis. This recording culminated in the publication of The Flora of Moray in 1935, edited by James J Burgess.
The
Title page and facing illustration of the 1935 Flora of Moray edited
by James Burgess. The illustration shows two plants, typical of and almost
unique to the ancient pinewoods of Moray; Moneses
uniflora (Single Flowered Wintergreen) and, surrounding it, two
sprays of Linnaea borealis (Twinflower). The latter plant derives
its name from the famous Swedish biologist Carl von Linné, who
first gave Latin names to a great many plant and animal species.
Entries
in the Flora for The Wintergreens, Pyrola
and Moneses.This copy of the Flora belonged to
Roland Richter, and contains a great many
of his pencilled annotations.
James Burgess was schoolmaster at Dyke Primary School for thirty-eight years. He was assisted in the production of the Flora by a number of people, including Alexander MacGregor, schoolmaster at Forres and Peter Leslie, lecturer in Forestry at Aberdeen University, as well as other members of the Field Club. Leslie contributed major sections in the Flora covering Fungi and Coniferous trees. A list of Mosses by Rev G Birnie of Garmouth was also included. Sadly, Burgess died in 1935 just shortly before the Flora was published.
