"P" is for Porcher, Francis Peyre [1824-1895]. Physician, botanist. In 1844 Porcher graduated with honors from the South Carolina College and entered the Medical College of the State of South Carolina in Charleston. After completing his studies he became co-editor of the Charleston Medical Journal and Review. In 1855 he and a colleague established a hospital for African Americans in Charleston. He was also on the staff of the Marine Hospital.
He volunteered as a surgeon for the Confederate Army, serving in the Virginia theatre of operations. The surgeon general of the Confederacy commissioned him to compile a work on useful botanical resources of the South. In 1863 Francis Peyre Porcher published a large volume titled Resources of the Southern Fields and Forest-- which won considerable praise as a contribution to the war effort.
