> [!cite] BHL link: this entry starts at [page 361](https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33355448) of TL-2 Vol. III > Author links: [IPNI](https://www.ipni.org/a/6205-1) LSID 6205-1, [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q926159) QID Q926159 > Support pages: [[Abbreviations|abbreviations]], [[Layout key|layout key]], [[Cite TL-2|cite TL-2]] ### Author Masson, Francis (1741-1805), British plant collector and gardener, from Kew, at the Cape (1772-1774), Canaries and Azores (1776-1782), Spain and Portugal (1781-1785), Cape (1786-1795), N. America (1798). **Abbreviated name**: *Masson* \[standard form in IPNI: *Masson*\] #### Herbarium and types Plant collector for Kew working for Joseph Banks. Masson's living plants went to Kew and his herbarium specimens (mainly) to Banks (now [[Collection BM|BM]]) (some to Lambert). Masson described no new taxa himself. The *Stapeliae novae* are 41 plates engraved after drawings made by him in South Africa. These drawings are now also at [[Collection BM|BM]]. Masson collected at the Cape (1772-1774, 1786-1795), Azores (1776), Canaries (1777), Madeira (1778), West Indies (1779-1780), Spain and Portugal (1783), North Africa (1783), North America and E. Canada (1798-1805). Duplicates of Masson's collections are in several herbaria, e.g. [[Collection BR|BR]], [[Collection CGE|CGE]], [[Collection DBN|DBN]], [[Collection HAL|HAL]], [[Collection LD|LD]], [[Collection LINN|LINN]], [[Collection MO|MO]], [[Collection PH|PH]], [[Collection UPS|UPS]] (Thunberg herb.). #### Note "NOW every garret and cottage-window is filled with numerous species of that beautiful tribe \[*Pelargonium*\], and every greenhouse glows with the innumerable bulbous plants and heaths of the Cape. For all these we are principally indebted to Mr. Masson..." (J. E. Smith, in Rees, Cycl. vol. 22, 1812). #### Bibliography and biography AG 3: 257; Backer p. 357; Barnhart 2:458; BB p. 209; BM 3: 1264; Bossen p. 256; Clokie p. 208; CSP 4: 272 \[by error\], 17: 80; Dawson p. 590-591, 908, 945 \[index\]; Desmond p. 427; DNB 37: 17; Dryander 3: 253, 5: 76; DU 197; Frank 3(Anh.): 63; Henrey 2: 729 \[index\]; Herder p. 310; Hortus 3: 1199 ("Masson"); IH 2: 512; Jackson p. 144; Kew 3: 617; Lasègue p. 575 \[index\]; NI 1301; Pleseh p. 329; PR 5971 (ed. 1: 6644); Render 5: 552; SK 1: 351; Sotheby 509-510; TL-1/54, 812; TL-2/1: 363. - Allan, M., The Hookers of Kew 64. 1967. - Allibone, S. A., Crit. dict. Engl. lit. 1242. 1870. - Anderson, A. W., The coming of flowers. London 130-133. 1932. - Anon., Proc. Linn. Soc. London 1888/90: 38. 1891 (on portr.). - Britten, J., J. Bot. 22: 114-123, 144-148. 1884 (itin.), 23: 227. 1885, 55: 70. 1917; J. Linn. Soc. Bot. 45: 41-43, 50, *pl. 4.* 1920 (portr.). - Bullock, A. A., Bibl. S. Afr. bot. 74. 1978. - Coats, A. M., Huntia 2: 205. 1965 (portr.); The plant hunters 252-259, 389. 1969. - Embacher, F., Lexikon Reisen 203. 1882. - Ewan, J., *in* F. Pursh, Fl. Amer. sept., facs. repr. 1979, intro. p. 21. - Forbes, V. S., Pioneer travellers of S. Africa 37-45. 1965. - Fries, T. M., Bref Skrifv. Linné 1(2): 353. 1908, 1(5): 238. 1911. - Graustein, J. E., Thomas Nuttall 92, 264, 291. 1967. - Howard, R. A., Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 79: 76. 1979 (W. Ind. mat.) - Hutchinson, J., Botanist in S. Afr. 613, 617. 1947. - Huxley, L., Life J. D. Hooker 1: 383. 1917. - I. G., Bunte Pflanzenwelt 7: 3-4. 1967. - J., Dict. Sci. méd., Biogr. méd. 6: 222-223. 1824. - Jackson, B. D., Proc. Linn. Soc. 134 (suppl.): 18. 1922 (pl. LINN). - Jessen, K. F. W., Bot. Gegenw. Vorz. 472. 1864. - Karsten, M. C, J. S. Afr. Bot., 24: 203-218. 1958 (biogr.), 25: 167-188, 283-310. 1959 (itin.), 26: 9-15. 1960 (M's plants), 27: 15-45, 167-168. 1961 (artists) (main study). - Leighton, C., Cape floral kingdom 17-27. 1960. - Lemmon, K., Golden age plant hunters 63, 72, 226. 1968. - MacOwan, Trans. S. Afr. philos. Soc. 4: xxix-liii. 1887. - Miller, H. S., Taxon 19: 532. 1970. - Murray, G., Hist. Coll. BMNH 1: 167. 1904. - Nelson, E. C, Glasra 4: 55. 1980 (pl. DBN). - Phillips, E. P., S. Afr. J. Sci. 27: 41, 45. 1930. - Sehirach, M. C. F., Suid. Afr. biogr. woordeb. 1: 545-547. 1967. - Smith, E., Life Joseph Banks 96-98, 297. 1911. - Smith, J., Gard. Chron. 1881(2): 335. - Smith, J. E., Memoir and correspondence 2: 117, 183, 559-565. 1821. - Stafleu, F. A., Linnaeus and the Linnaeans 232. 1971. - Stafleu, F. A. et al., *in* C. L. L'Héritier, Sertum angl. facs. ed. Pittsburgh 1963, see general index. - Stearn, VV. T., J. Arnold Arb. 46: 268. 1965. - Thiselton-Dyer, W. T., Bull. misc. Inf. Kew 1891: 295-296. - Tyrrell-Glynn, W. & W. L. Levyns, Fl. afric. 48-49. 1963. - Urban, I., Symb. ant. 3: 82-83. 1900. - White, A. & B. L. Sloane, The Stapeliae ed. I. 82-85, 205 \[index\], 1933, ed. 2. 19 \[index\]. 1937. - Wilson, E. H., Plant hunting 38, 57. 1927. - Woodward, B. B., *in* G. Murray, Hist. coll. BM(NH) 1: 27, 43. 1904 (water-eolour drawings). #### Eponymy *Massonia* Thunberg ex Linnaeus fil. (1782). ### Publications ##### n.5663. Stapeliae novae **Title** *Stapeliae novae*: or, a collection of several new species of that genus; discovered in the interior parts of Africa by Francis Masson. London (printed by W. Bulmer and Co. for George Nicol,...) 1796. \[-1797\]. Fol. **Abbreviated title**: *Stapel. nov.* **Notes** *Publ*.: in four decades, 1796-1797, plates dated as below, p. \[i\]-viii, \[9\]-24, *pl. 1-41.* *Copies*: G, MO, NY (has in addition four original sketches), USDA; IDC 6059. *Decas 1*: *pl. 1-10.* Apr 1776. *Decas 2*: *pl. 11-20.* Mar 1797. *Decas 3*: *pl. 21-30.* 20 Mai 1797, but publ. Nov-Dec 1797. *Decas 4*: *pl. 31-40.* 20 Jun 1797, *pl. 41*: 1 Jun 1797, almost certainly publ. 1798. H. S. Miller (1970) mentions a statement by Lambert, dated 4 Nov 1776 that the first number would appear "in a few days"; this agrees with a statement by Banks on 28 Sep 1797 to publish the fasc. "at once" (see Sotheby 509). Apart from this there is no indication that the dates on dec. 1 and 2 are not those of publication (see also TL-1). The *plates* are handcoloured engravings (line and stipple or roulette) of drawings by Masson (made in Africa). – The text was in part reprinted by Usteri, P., Ann. Bot. 22: 14-19. – A *facsimile *reprint was announced by Asher (1974).