Cross-Channel commerce: the circulation of plants, people and botanical culture between France and Britain, c.1760-c.1789

This article examines the cross-Channel circulation of scientific and commercial information, asking how and why French and British scholars of botany established and maintained connections. It argues that the plant trade should be seen as intertwined with the scientific study of plants, for the two were mutually supportive. The article examines the social profile of the people who collected plants as scientific specimens in France, discussing how and from whom they obtained these. It highlights the key role played by commercial nurserymen, and concludes with a study of the immigrant gardener Thomas Blaikie and his employer the comte de Lauraguais.