A Naturalist's Adventures in the Levant: The 1874 Expedition of Henry John Elwes FRS VMH and the Discovery of the Elwesii Snowdrop

In March 1874, British naturalist Henry John Elwes arrived in southern France to discover his travel plans had been cancelled. Undeterred, he set sail for Smyrna—now Izmir—on Turkey’s Aegean coast. Finding an unusually hard winter still lingered, he continued to Lycia, a region on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Anatolia, where he hoped spring would be more advanced. While the area’s ruins had been well documented by archaeologists, it had yet to be visited by a naturalist and its native birds and plants catalogued.Embarking from a steamer at Makri, the intrepid Elwes hired a horse and a guide and began his explorations. With no advance planning, he frequently had to sleep on the floors of huts and eat meals consisting of “bad bread, onions and sour milk.” Despite the hardships, over the following weeks he found numerous unfamiliar plants and returned to Britain with samples to be scientifically categorized. He also travelled through some spectacular scenery and enjoyed the hospitality of some uncommon people.Elwes documented his journey in his letters home to his wife Margaret which form the basis of this account. It is a story of great fortitude and perseverance whose results can be seen in our gardens today. Read more