Naming a genus for William Darlington: a case study in botanical eponymy

Abstract

In 1853, the American botanist John Torrey described a new genus of pitcher plant, naming it Darlingtonia (Sarraceniaceae). The plant had been collected near Mount Shasta in California in 1841 by William Brackenridge, a member of the Wilkes Expedition. The name honoured William Darlington (1782–1863), a Pennsylvania physician and botanist who had traded information and specimens with Torrey for many years. Darlington considered a genus eponym as a distinct honour. The genus name Darlingtonia, however, had been used twice before, but the plants were shown to belong to Desmanthus (Leguminosae) and Styrax (Styracaceae). A letter in the William Darlington Herbarium at West Chester University, Pennsylvania, reveals Torrey's efforts to ease Darlington's fears that the same fate would befall the name of the Californian pitcher plant.