Arthur Bruce and the historical importance of Frogden, Roxburghshire to the Scottish flora

Abstract

Arthur Bruce is a little-known eighteenth-century Scottish botanist and land surveyor who discovered Eriophorum latifolium at Frogden in 1793. This was one of the very earliest records in the British Isles for this misunderstood species and a first for Scotland. He corresponded with Sir James Edward Smith, the founder of the Linnean Society, and gifted his herbarium to the Society. Epipactis palustris was another of his discoveries at Frogden. His younger botanical friend, the Rev. William MacRitchie from Perthshire, was introduced to Frogden by Bruce and added the first dated British record of Potamogeton coloratus from there in 1790. William Dawson, the highly regarded progressive farmer at Frogden, systematically drained the site assisted by Bruce, and the plants were lost. Unexpectedly, a new site for the Eriophorum was recently discovered relatively close to Frogden.