Born at Falkirk in Scotland and starting his working life as a pharmaceutical chemist there, George Forrest soon gave up what promised to be a settled and secure life for a nomadic existence. He spent some years roaming Australia with jobs here and there, before returning to work in the herbarium of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, which at that time was supervised by Professor Bayley Balfour. It was Balfour who recommended Forrest to Bulley, a wealthy patron of collectors at that time.

His first expedition under the Bulley flag was to Yunnan, where he arrived at Teng-yeuh in August 1904, too late in . the season to do much collecting. In 1905, Forrest and his 17 servants and collectors were caught up in border skirmishes between Tibet and China. In fleeing their Tibetan pursuers, all but one of the helpers were slain and Forrest escaped only because he slipped and rolled down a steep slope. He discarded his boots because they left tell-tale prints, and spent the next eight days on the run in his bare feet. On the ninth, he received help from villagers who fed and rested him before guiding him over a 17 000 ft (5000 metres) range to more settled country and friendly people. Finally, reaching a village where he was known, he was given an escort for a 19-day hike to Tali-fu and safety.

At Tali-fu he met the British Consul from Teng-yeuh, Colonel Litton, who re-equipped him and saw him safely back to Teng-yeuh for a short rest before accompanying him to the Salween River valley. They collected in this locality for ten weeks before returning to Teng-yeuh just before Christmas, both ill, Litton with blackwater fever and Forrest with Salween malaria.

Malaria caused Forrest to withdraw early from the field in 1906, but his team of collectors were now experienced enough to carry on without him. He went home at the end of that year knowing that his future efforts would concentrate on primulas (P. forrestii and P. littonii were among those collected in 1906) and rhododendrons and that he had found an immense natural garden for his future collections.

He returned to Teng-yeuh and his previous collecting areas for his expedition of 1910-11 ( Pieris formosa forrestii and Gentiana sino-ornata collected for Bulley), but was not allowed beyond Teng-yeuh when he arrived for his 1912-14 expedition. The border clashes between Tibet and China were still thriving and revolution was the order of the day in southern Yunnan.

In 1913, his base was 25 kilometres north of Likiang. He collected a good seed harvest for a full season, returning to Tali-fu just in time for a revolt of the local troops who had shot their officers and captured the city. Forrest was thrown into jail for three weeks, by which time loyal troops had retaken the city. He wrote:

He made his base a little farther north in 1914, but because of the unusually wet season, the harvest was poor. Alice Coats stated that Forrest, working his collectors in pairs to cover regions he himself could not reach, was able to accumulate 200 pounds of seeds and 3000 herbarium specimens in a normal season.

His fourth expedition, 1917-19, concentrated on the Salween -- Mekong divide where he hoped to assist the expanding interest in the genus Rhododendron. R. giganteum and R. griersonianum were discovered, but his next foray in 192-22 on the Salween -- Taron divide was more rewarding in terms of the Rhododendron genus.

The 1924-25 expedition, in which he discovered C. saluenensis, was also rewarding and should probably have been his last, but he returned in 1930-31 to obtain seeds of species which had already been collected, but had failed in English gardens. It was such a good season for collecting that he reported towards the end of it that he had

By early January, 1932, all the packing had been completed, so Forrest went out for some shooting, hut suddenly collapsed and died. He was buried at Teng-yeuh, close to his friend Litton.

So ended an extremely active life devoted to plant hunting and the identification of new species in a land which at that time was still a mysterious and unsettled place. This article serves to commemorate Forrest, rather than other great plant hunters, because he brought back Camellia saluenensis just when the camellia enthusiasts in England needed a good seed parent to introduce hybrid vigour into the genus.

References