Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Donn, James
DONN, JAMES (1758–1813), botanist, was a pupil of William Aiton (1731-1793) [q. v.], the king's gardener at Kew. About 1790 he was appointed curator of the Cambridge Botanic Garden, of which he published a catalogue in 1796, with a few novelties; of this list the sixth edition was issued by the compiler in 1811, and the thirteenth under successive editors in 1845. He died at Cambridge on 14 June 1813, leaving behind him the reputation of a zealous and successful cultivator, but he is best known as having named Claytonia perfoliata, a North American plant now naturalised in this country. He was a fellow of the Linnean Society during the last two years of his life.
[Cambridge Chronicle, 18 June 1813; Linnean Society Annual Lists of Fellows, 1812 and 1813.]