| John Tradescant |
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John Tradescant the elder (''ca'' 1570s – 15/16 April, open to the public in England, the Musaeum Tradescantianum . From their Botanical Garden in Lambeth , on the south bank of the Thames , he and his son, John, introduced many plants into English gardens that have become part of the modern gardener's repertory. A genus of plants ('' Tradescantia '') is named to honour him. His son, John Tradescant the Younger ( 1608 – 1662 ), botanist and gardener, born in Meopham , Kent , made three trips to Virginia between 1637 and 1662 to collect plants. Among the seeds he brought back, to introduce to English gardens were great American trees, like Magnolia s, Bald Cypress and Tulip Tree , and garden plants such phlox and asters. He also added to the cabinet of curiosities his American acquisitions such as the ceremonial cloak of Chief Powhatan , one of the most important Native American relics. When his father died, he succeeded as head gardener to Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria , making gardens at the Queen's House, Greenwich , designed by Inigo Jones , from 1638 to 1642, when the queen fled the Civil War. He published the contents of his father's celebrated collection as ''Musaeum Tradescantianum'' — books, coins, weapons, costumes, taxidermy, and other curiosities — dedicating the first edition to the Royal College Of Physicians (with whom he was negotiating for the transfer of his botanic garden), and the second edition to the recently-restored Charles II . Tradescant bequeathed his library and museum (or some say it was swindled) to Elias Ashmole ( 1617 – 1692 ), whose name it bears as the core of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford where the Tradescant collections remain largely intact. For this Tradescant, the standard Botanical Author Abbreviation '''Trad.''' is applied to Species he described. Tradescant father and son were buried in the churchyard of St-Mary-at-Lambeth which is now established as the Museum Of Garden History . They are the subjects of two novels by Philippa Gregory, ''Earthly Joys'' and its sequel ''Virgin Earth''. The Tradescant collection is the earliest major English Cabinet of Curiosities. Other famous collections in Europe preceded it, for example Emperor Rudolf II 's Kunst- und Wunderkammer was well-established at Prague by the end of the 16th century. REFERENCES
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