Smith was born in 1760 in
Ochiltree,
Scotland. In his earlier years, he had been a student of
Joseph Banks, and worked in the gardens of
Stowe House and
Syon House. He later became the superintendent of the London Botanic Garden of
William Curtis. It was at Monkwood where Smith employed and mentored his future son-in-law, the botanist
John Goldie, for whom
Dyopteris goldieana is named. Passing through Monkwood on one occasion, the poet
Hew Ainslie wrote in his
A Pilgrimage in the Land of Burns (1820) that Smith's garden was "paradisiacal", where plants "of all nations were seated most brotherly together, drinking of the same dews, and dancing to the piping of the same breeze". Owing to his botanical knowledge and extensive collection of plants, Smith was regularly consulted by such contemporary English botanists as
William Jackson Hooker and
James Edward Smith who included his information on botanical subjects in their works. As mentioned in Hooker's
Flora Scotica (1821), Smith is credited with the discovery of
Primula scotica, Veronica hirsuta and the
Kilmarnock Weeping Willow (Salix caprea pendula). Smith died on 1 January 1848, aged 84. His gravestone in the Ayr Auld Kirkyard (where Smith had his first garden) describes him as the "father of Scottish botany," a title derived from his particular interest in the
flora of Scotland. == References ==