Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1976 (SND Vol. X, list of scientific terms with Scottish connections).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
FORTUNE. Bot. After Robert Fortune (1812–80), from Edrom in Berwickshire, plant-collector in the Far-east, who brought the tea-plant from China to India. Derivs. †Fortunaea, a genus of Asian trees of the walnut family (1846 J. Lindley in Journal Hortic. Soc. I. 151), also called Platycarya; Fortunella, an ornamental shrub of China and Japan bearing citrus fruit, the kumquat (1915 Swingle in Journal Washington Acad. Sc. V. 168).