Embedded Files
Cruttwell and
As noted previously, Rev Norman Cruttwell had a passion for botany, and it is demonstrated by the number of references to him in literature on the subject. His 45 years in Papua New Guinea gave him many opportunities to pursue his hobby. The Royal Botanic Gardens' Kew Bulletin in 1949 reports on his discovery of a new species of Poa (a grass) from Papua - Poa cruttwellii. named after the missionary clergyman. A 1952 issue of the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society contains an article ‘Orchid hunting in New Guinea’ by Rev Cruttwell.
By 1962, the International Dendrology Society was reporting that the cleric had sent a great many plants for description and cultivation from the remote areas in which he worked. One such specimen was named Rhododendron cruttwellii.
Example of Canon Cruttwell's research as recorded in the Kew Archives
Pukeiti, one of New Zealand's top rhododendron gardens, has examples of Rhododendron hyacinthosmum (Vireya). This was originally collected by Canon Cruttwell in 1969 in the Milne Bay District of Papua New Guinea, and the seed was sent to Australia subsequently. It has produced most of those in cultivation. In 1972, The Rhododendron - the journal of the Australian Rhododendron Society - published an account by Rev Cruttwell of the first part of a botanical expedition to the Mount Suckling Range of South East Papua, undertaken in June of that year. This followed similar expeditions to other sites in previous years.
Drawing by Rev Cruttwell of rhododendron fond on Mt Sucklimg in Papua New Guinea
A 1984 paper by Dr R M Withers to the Royal Horticultural Society's Rhododendron, Camellia and Magnolia Group acknowledges the assistance and support provided to its author by Rev Canon Norman Cruttwell for more than twenty years.
Even as late as 1990, Canon Cruttwell was still engaged in botanical research. Geranium papuanum was the subject of a preliminary work by him in the Alpine Garden Society Bulletin. Later that year, a 3-man (George Beccalobi, Magnus Schoeman, and Fernley Symons) expedition from Imperial College, London set off to Papua New Guinea - "the last unknown". Part of the expedition report reads: "The next day we departed for the Markham Valley en route for Goroka, gateway to the Highlands. Here, we had arranged a guided tour of Mount Gahavisuka Provincial Park in the care of the park's founder, Canon Norman Cruttwell. As well as having a love of plants, Canon Cruttwell was one of the first Anglican missionaries to the Milne Bay area in southern PNG. We spent a fascinating evening sharing his reminiscences."
In 2020, Lorna Mitchell, a researcher into the archives of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh (RBGE) and the archives at Kew, noted that Canon Cruttwell had left many drawings and papers related to discovering, documenting and preserving the highland plants of Papua. At that time, lowland species in Papua were more recognised than the highland species. The researcher found seven fully rendered artworks of highland Dendrobium and Rhododendron by Cruttwell in the RBGE collection, where each work was documented with full colours and scientific and geographical information, and all were signed and mounted - "It is easy to feel his passion for these plants from the artworks".
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse