John Parkinson (botanist) John Parkinson (1567–1650; buried 6 August 1650) was the last of the great English herbalists and one of the first of the great English botanists.

What is Paradisi’s Theatrum Botanicum?

In Paradisi in Sole Parkinson hinted that he hoped to add a fourth section, a garden of simples (medicinal herbs). He delivered the promise in his other great book, the monumental Theatrum Botanicum ( The Botanical Theatre or Theatre of Plants) which he published in 1640 at the age of 73 years.

How did Parkinson search for new varieties of plants?

Parkinson actively sought new varieties of plants through his contacts abroad and by financing William Boel’s plant-hunting expedition to Iberia and North Africa in 1607–1608.

Who was John Parkinson and where is he buried?

Parkinson died in the summer of 1650, and was buried at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, on 6 August. He is commemorated in the Central American genus of leguminous trees Parkinsonia. Paradisi in Sole also inspired the children’s writer Juliana Horatia Ewing (1841–1885) to write the story Mary’s Meadow,…