William Aiton

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William Aiton (1731Template:Snd2 February 1793) was a Scottish botanist.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Kew, St Anne's Churchyard, The Aiton family tomb.jpg

The Aiton family tomb

Aiton was born near Hamilton. Having been regularly trained to the profession of a gardener, he travelled to London in 1754, and became assistant to Philip Miller, then superintendent of the Chelsea Physic Garden. In 1759 he was appointed director of the newly established botanical garden at Kew, where he remained until his death. He effected many improvements at the gardens, and in 1789 he published Hortus Kewensis, a catalogue of the plants cultivated there.<ref name="EB1911">{{#if: |

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                                    |This article
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  }}{{#ifeq:  ||}}</ref>Template:Sfn He is buried at nearby St. Anne's Church, Kew.

A second and enlarged edition of the Hortus was brought out in 1810–1813 by his eldest son, William Townsend Aiton.<ref name="EB1911" />

Aiton is commemorated in the specific epithet aitonis.<ref name="Eggli Newton 2004">Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1789, he classified the Sampaguita plant to the Jasminium genus and also named it as Arabian Jasmine because it was believed that the plant originated from The Arabian Peninsula<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> although the plant didn't originate from Arabia.