Name Nathaniel Colgan | Fields Botany | |
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Known for identifying the botanical species meant by the term 'shamrock' Influences Alexander Goodman More
David Moore Died October 2, 1919, Dublin, Republic of Ireland Influenced by Alexander Goodman More, David Moore | ||
Nathaniel Colgan (1851 Dublin – 1919 Dublin) was a self-taught Irish naturalist primarily known for his botanical work.
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Life
Very little is known about Colgan's early life, but it is believed his parents may have been Nathaniel Watson Colgan and Letitia Phair. After leaving school, Colgan began work as a clerk in the Dublin Metropolitan Police Court and remained there until his retirement in 1916.
He began visiting Europe every summer from 1875, and these trips inspired many of the contributions to a magazine of literary manuscripts, Varieties. He was a regular contributor to the magazine from 1873 and edited it for a number of years. Colgan also contributed to Irish Monthly, Tinsley's Magazine and Hibernia.
Colgan never married and died in Dublin on 2 October 1919.
Botanical and zoological work
Colgan became a keen amateur botanist following his discovery in 1884 of the rare plant saw-wort in Wicklow and was encouraged by Alexander Goodman More to study botany further. Moving to Sandycove in 1900, Colgan developed an interest in marine invertebrates, particularly Mollusca and tunicates. Colgan recorded the marine Mollusca collected during the Clare Island Survey and his large mollusc collections from Co. Dublin and Clare Island were subsequently donated to the Natural History Museum Dublin.
Colgan is noted for his work in identifying the botanical species meant by the term 'shamrock' in the 1890s. He did this by requesting people from around Ireland send him specimens of what they believed to be an Irish shamrock. After tending these specimens until they flowered, Colgan identified five most common plant species. The most common was yellow clover, followed by white clover, red clover, black medic and finally wood sorrel. Dr Charles Nelson repeated the experiment in 1988, marking a hundred years since Colgan's original survey, and found that yellow clover was still the most commonly chosen. Yellow clover is also the species that is cultivated for sale in Ireland on Saint Patrick's Day and has been nominated by Department of Agriculture as the "official" shamrock of Ireland.
Colgan's interest in vernacular and Irish language names for various plants and animals was reflected in his other work into jellyfish, starfish and periwinkles and his contribution to the Clare Island Survey.
Works
Partial list: