Edward Lhwyd and the plants listed from Glamorgan in Camden’s Britannia

Abstract

Recent authors have attributed to Edward Lhwyd (c.1660–1709) seven records of plants from Glamorgan first published in the second edition of Richard Gough’s revision of Camden’s Britannia (1806). If correctly attributed, the records of the native Centaurium pulchellum and the alien Antirrhinum majus and Centranthus ruber would be the first from Britain. However, a close examination of the publication history of successive editions of Britannia suggests that the records have no connection to Lhwyd. Although their source is unknown, they very probably date from the period between 1789 and 1806.