Date of Birth - 1754

Archibald Menzies first went to school in Weem, he then worked for a time in the garden at Castle Menzies. This was followed by a period at the University of Edinburgh where he worked under Dr John Hope in the Botany Department. His brother William was later employed at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Archibald was commended for a herbarium collection he made of rare Scottish plants.

1781 he graduated with a medical degree and entered the navy as an assistant surgeon. He spent four years at a base on the east coast of America where he became familiar with the local flora. Occasionally he was able to make visits to the West Indies on naval ships. He eventually visited the Pacific coast where he mistakenly identified the trees and shrubs he saw with their eastern counter parts (he nor David Douglas realised forty years later that no tree is common to both coasts, apart from a species of maple and two species of willow).
Dr Hope then Curator of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh recommended Menzies to Sir Joseph Banks. This led Menzies to an appointment on board the ‘Prince of Wales’ bound for the Pacific Coast of America via Cape Horn. The ship made for the west side of Vancouver Island. The plants Menzies first saw included Cupressus nootkatensis, Rosa nutkana and Rubus parviflorus The voyage around the world took 3 years! ‘The Prince of Wales’ returned home in July 1789 by Cape of Good Hope.

In 1791 under Captain Vancouver Menzies sailed again to the North American Pacific Coast. This was a survey mission which taking the route via the Cape of Good Hope, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti and Hawaii. By October they reached Vancouver Island and explored the waterways. Menzies recorded the conifers he found, not recognising Douglas Fir as it was a genus that he had never seen. He made the first record of Arbutus menziesii. He also recorded maple, alder and rhododendron.

In San Francisco, Menzies found Lupinus arboreus, Monterey Pine - Pinus radiata, Cupressus macrocarpa, and he was the first to gather Sequoia sempervirens the ‘Giant Red Redwood’ By 1794 they were in Hawaii and he was the first Scottish Botanist to climb the volcano Mauna Loa (David Douglas was the second 40 years later).

Later Menzies stopped in Chile and were he was dined by the Viceroy. The dessert included some nuts which Menzies did not recognise, so he took some back to the ship and planted them, the seedlings survived and one was planted at Kew which lived for nearly a century. This was the first introduction of the Monkey Puzzle tree - Araucaria auricana.

Countries visited: Mostly America, New Zealand, Tahiti, Hawaii, Chile

Awards: FLS 1790

Archibald Menzies Main Plant Introductions:
Araucaria auricana Monkey Puzzle, Mahonia aquifolium Oregon Grape, Rhododendron occidentalis, Arbutus menziesii (Pacific madrone), Chamaecyparis lawsoniana (Lawson's cyprus), Thuya plicata (Red Cedar), Cornus nuttalii Pacific Dogwood, Cornus stolonifera, Cupressus nootkatensis.

• Quercus garryana
• Quercus lobata
• Ribes sanguineum
• Ribes speciosum
• Sophora tetraptera
• Spiraea douglasii var menziesii
• Tolmiea menziesii