William Graham McIvor, who brought both horticulture and botany to The Nilgiris, was remembered on his 139{+t}{+h}death anniversary at Udhagamandalam, on Monday. McIvor was the man behind founding the world renowned Government Botanical Garden in Ooty. Officials from the Horticulture Department placed a wreath at his tomb near Steven’s Church at Ooty, where a special prayer was organised.
McIvor came to The Nilgiris at the age of 23 and was there for 30 years. He died at the age of 53 on June 8, 1876. During the three decades, he introduced apple and several exotic fruits such as apricot, cape plum, almonds, cherries, filberts, figs, guava, grape vine, granadilla, bread fruit, lemon, loquat, mongo, mulberry, medlar, orange, peach, pear, nectarine, plums, pineapple, quince, currants and many types of berries.
He introduced fruits and flowers from other countries to The Nilgiris and exported the varieties to other colonies with similar conditions such as Ceylon, Calcutta, Mauritius, Hong Kong and Melbourne. On this anniversary, Nilgiri Documentation Centre made an appeal to the garden administration to consider installing a plaque on his memory, at the entrance of the gardens.
