John Jeffrey was a Scottish gardener-botanist, trained in the practical tradition of horticulture rather than in formal academic botany. In 1850 he was appointed as a professional plant collector by the Oregon Botanical Association (OBA), a short-lived consortium of British nurserymen based mainly in Edinburgh and London. Their aim was explicitly commercial: to obtain new ornamental and useful plants from the Pacific Northwest of North America for introduction into British gardens and estates.
Jeffrey was selected following the death of their first collector, William Lobb, and was expected to work independently in remote and often difficult terrain.
Collecting regions and itinerary
1. Pacific Northwest (1850–1851)
Jeffrey arrived in North America in 1850 and initially concentrated on the Columbia River basin, travelling through what is now:
Oregon
Washington
British Columbia
He collected widely in forests, river valleys, and mountain foothills. His material included:
Conifers
Herbaceous perennials
Alpine and subalpine species
Jeffrey was particularly attentive to seed collection, which was of far greater commercial value than pressed specimens for the OBA.
Notable conifer collections from this period include material later named:
Pinus jeffreyi (Jeffrey pine)
Abies grandis (grand fir, Jeffrey collections critical to its introduction)
Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas fir; already known, but Jeffrey contributed seed and regional variants)
2. California and the Sierra Nevada (1851–1852)
Jeffrey then travelled south into California, working extensively in:
The Sierra Nevada
Foothills and montane forests
Parts of northern and central California
This was a botanically rich but physically dangerous region at the time, coinciding with the California Gold Rush. Jeffrey is known to have collected:
Conifers at mid to high elevations
Shrubs and herbaceous plants suitable for British gardens
Alpine species previously unknown in cultivation
Several Californian taxa were described from his collections, and his seed shipments were instrumental in establishing many western American trees in Britain.
3. Great Basin and Utah (1852–1853)
Jeffrey pushed further inland than most collectors of his era, travelling eastwards into:
Nevada
Utah Territory
This was an exceptionally hazardous undertaking. He collected in semi-arid and mountainous regions little visited by Europeans at the time. His work here broadened British knowledge of Great Basin flora, though fewer living introductions survived from these harsher environments.
Methods and working conditions
Jeffrey worked:
Largely alone
With minimal financial support
Over vast distances on foot, horseback, and river transport
He collected:
Seeds (his primary task)
Herbarium specimens (often secondary and sometimes poorly documented)
Occasional living plants
Like many collectors of the period, he struggled with illness, isolation, and financial insecurity. His correspondence reveals increasing frustration with the Oregon Botanical Association, which was itself becoming unstable.
Disappearance and presumed death
John Jeffrey was last reliably recorded in 1853–1854 in the vicinity of Fort Yuma, near the confluence of the Gila and Colorado Rivers (modern Arizona/California border).
He then disappears from the historical record.
Most contemporary and later accounts conclude that Jeffrey died in the American Southwest, possibly from illness, exposure, or violence, though no confirmed details are known. He was never heard from again, and no grave or official death record has been identified.
Botanical legacy
Despite his short career and tragic end, Jeffrey’s impact was substantial:
Numerous species and varieties are named jeffreyi in his honour
His conifer introductions reshaped British and European forestry and landscape planting
His collections expanded botanical knowledge of western North America at a critical period
Unlike more celebrated collectors, Jeffrey published nothing himself; his reputation rests entirely on specimens, seed introductions, and the work of taxonomists who later described his material.
Assessment
John Jeffrey exemplifies the mid-19th-century collector-adventurer, operating at the intersection of science, commerce, and empire. He was neither a gentleman botanist nor a colonial official, but a skilled working botanist whose contributions far outweighed his recognition during his lifetime.
References
Colville, F.V. "The Itinerary of John Jeffrey, an Early Botanical Explorer of Western North America." Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 11 (1897): 57-60.
Johnstone, T. J. "John Jeffrey and the Oregon Expedition". Notes of the Royal Botanical Garden, Edinburgh 20 (1939): 1-53.
Lang, F.A. "John Jeffrey in the Wild West: Speculations on his Life and Times (1828-1854?)." Kalmiopsis 13 (2006): 1-12. Available at http://npsoregon.org/kalmiopsis/kalmiopsis13/lang.pdf.
Lange, E.F. "John Jeffrey and the Oregon Botanical Expedition." Oregon Historical Quarterly 69 (1967): 111-24.