Specimen of Fairchild’s Mule annotated by botanist William Sherard (1659-1729), who bequeathed his herbarium to Oxford University
(Courtesy of Oxford University Herbaria, Department of Plant Sciences)
To celebrate the 350th anniversary of the birth in 1667 of the nurseryman Thomas Fairchild, we present Fairchild’s Mule, purported to be the first artificially-created plant hybrid. Experimenting in his Hoxton nursery in 1716, Fairchild successfully created his ‘mule’ from crossing the Carnation, Dianthus caryophyllus L., with the Sweet William, Dianthus barbatus L. (Caryophyllaceae). It is not known whether his endeavour was fuelled by scientific enquiry or by the desire to entice clients to his flourishing plant business with a new offering that circumvented the considerable expense of foreign plant collection. The success of his experiment was widely celebrated by the scientific community and in 1720 he presented a dried flower of his new hybrid to the Royal Sciety. Two of Fairchild’s Mules can be found today: in the Oxford University Herbaria and the Natural History Museum, London.