Banks (Joseph)
Original title: Banks. (José)
Joseph Banks was an English botanist who spent 12–18 September 1768 in Madeira with Captain Cook's first expedition. With Dr Solander he collected 255 plant species on the island.
A distinguished English botanist who died in London, aged 80, on 19 May 1820. He was in Madeira from 12 to 18 September 1768 as botanist to the first expedition commanded by Captain James Cook, and took from this island a large number of flowering plants, as well as a variety of information on matters of natural history. Joseph Banks’s manuscripts show that he and his companion Dr Daniel Solander collected 255 species in Madeira, even though the season was not among the best suited to botanical exploration. The small herbarium of the two naturalists is deposited in the Museum.