Of people and plants in West Chester, Pennsylvania: the localisms of William Darlington's Florula Cestrica (1826)

Abstract

In 1826, William Darlington (1782–1863) published Florula Cestrica, a local flora covering the area of his hometown of West Chester, Pennsylvania. It was Darlington's first book on botany, but he would subsequently publish many more and become one of the most respected naturalists in America. Intended for both a local and an international audience, the work drew inspiration from the area's rich botanical heritage and served the local collector, while it also announced Darlington's arrival within the larger world of botanical practice. In addition to existing botanical literature, Darlington cited his local and regional botanical influences to bolster his observations. His book identified dozens of specific sites as plant habitats in the West Chester area and included property owners’ names and the uses to which many of his neighbours put the plants growing around them. Darlington's observations were filled with his personal judgments of people and plants, making Florula Cestrica a textual artefact of the embodied practice of botany. Darlington's attention to detail, people and place set his Florula Cestrica apart within the genre of North American local floras.