William Gardiner (botanist)

[4] According to Lawley, his mother sold pottery, while his father, William senior, was a weaver, gardener, botanist and poet.

[4][5] After completing his apprenticeship, he joined the business of a Mr George Robertson, another umbrella maker and hosier.

[4] According to Leisure & Culture Dundee, Sir William J Hooker offered Gardiner a botanical appointment, which he declined due to family commitments.

[5] In the United Kingdom, Gardiner's specimens are cared for at the Natural History Museum in London,[4] the Kew Herbarium,[4] the Department of Biological Sciences,[4] Dundee University,[4] Hull University,[4] the Bromfield Herbarium,[4] and the Hancock Museum in Newcastle upon Tyne.

[10] These exsiccatae-like books have attracted renewed academic attention in the 21st century, particularly by historians and artists who have focused on these works as material culture that mixed poetry, 'botanical science and mounted local plant specimens.