1570-1638. English gardener and botanist, who
travelled widely in Europe and may have
introduced the cos lettuce to England from
the Greek island bearing the same name. He
was appointed gardener to Charles I and was
succeeded by his son, John Tradescant the
Younger (1608-1662), after his death. The
younger Tradescant undertook three
plant-collecting trips to Virginia, USA, and
the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus named the
genus Tradescantia in his honour. The
Tradescants introduced many new plants to
Britain, including the acacia, lilac, and
occidental plane. Their collection of plants
formed the nucleus of the Ashmolean Museum in
Oxford.