Indian Forester, Scottish Laird: the Botanical Lives of Hugh Cleghorn of Stravithie

Volume 1 of a new 2 part work on Indian environmental history and botanical art.  Hugh Francis Clarke Cleghorn (1820–1895) was one of the many remarkable Scottish surgeons who worked for the East India Company, but who used an official posting as a base for research upon India’s rich flora, and recording it visually in drawings made by Indian artists. His particular interest was in useful plants, which led to the major work in the field of forest conservancy for which he is best remembered.

Indian Forester, Scottish Laird offers a definitive biography of Cleghorn’s life and work placing it in the latter days of the Scottish Enlightenment, both in the field of applied and useful knowledge, and the documentation of natural resources in both words and pictures.