He is credited with recording the existence of fourteen plant species previously unknown to science including Dryopteris goldieana, Stellaria longipes and Drosera linearis.

[1][2] Having studied language at the University of Glasgow, Goldie was fluent in Greek, French, and Hebrew, although he never registered for a degree due to financial problems.

[3][4] While in Glasgow, he made the acquaintance of James Smith, a well-known local botanist and florist, and began spending time at his home near Minishant.

[4] In 1817, at the instance of his colleague Sir William Jackson Hooker, Goldie was able to raise enough money to voyage to North America to collect botanical samples.

[5] It is possible that the Pine Barrens of eastern New Jersey were known to him as a rich source of plant life, as he traveled directly to the area and began collecting botanical samples.

[1] By the winter of 1819, Goldie had accumulated some money making flower designs in Montreal, and decided to set out on one last expedition before returning to Scotland.

[7] This journey, which began in early June and ended in late August, is documented in his surviving diary and provides a rare glimpse of life in the sparsely settled land around the Great Lakes following the War of 1812.

Upon his return from Saint Petersburg, Goldie set up a nursery business adjacent to the Burns Cottage in Ayr, Scotland to provide his growing family with additional income.

With little prospects for an economic future in Scotland by the 1840s, Goldie decided to move the family to Canada in 1844, where he rented and later purchased a farm in Ayr, Ontario.