Morison, Robert (1620–1683)

Scottish botanist who was the first professor of botany at Oxford University in 1669 and was physician and botanist to England's King Charles II.

Morison was born in Dundee in Scotland and attended Aberdeen University, graduating with an MA in 1638. He taught at Aberdeen University until the outbreak of the civil war, and in 1644, he fled to France, because he was a Royalist. He studied medicine in Angers and Paris before becoming a gardener to Gaston D'Orleans at Blois in order to further his interest in botany. He travelled throughout Europe to collect botanical specimens. He returned to England in 1660 after the Restoration to become Charles II's physician and botanist.

In 1669, he published Praeludia botanica, which included a classification of the plants at Blois, although he was unable to produce a succinct classification system for these observations.