X-Nico

2 unusual facts about Francis Masson


Francis Masson

Masson was the first plant collector to be sent abroad by the newly appointed director Sir Joseph Banks; he sailed with James Cook on HMS Resolution to South Africa, landing in October 1772.

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During the next seven years he travelled widely collecting plants and seeds, visiting Niagara Peninsula and Lake Ontario, but amassed only 24 new species, a minuscule tally compared with his South African spoils.


Robert Jacob Gordon

During 1772/73 Robert visited the Cape Colony and met Carl Peter Thunberg and Francis Masson.


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