Aylmer Bourke Lambert

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Aylmer Bourke Lambert (born February 2, 1761 in Bath , Somerset , † January 10, 1842 in Kew Green ) was an English botanist . Its botanical author abbreviation is “ Lamb. "

Live and act

Aylmer Bourke Lambert was the only son of landowner Edmund Lambert of Boyton House, near Heytesbury in Wiltshire , and his first wife Bridget Bourke, daughter of an Irish Viscount. As a child, Lambert was already a collector; he set up a museum in Boyton before going to school. At the age of 12 he was sent to the Hackney School . There, under a Mr. Newcome, he maintained primarily his passion for botanical collecting. After his mother died early, his father married a daughter of the naturalist Henry Seymer in 1773 , who owned a large exotic garden and a rich collection of conchyllium . Aylmer Bourke Lambert spent several vacations with the Seymer family in Hanford, Dorset. Since Henry Seymer was in correspondence with many botanists, Lambert got in touch with Richard Pulteney from Blandford and the Dowager Duchess of Portland, whose herbarium he later bought.

Lambert inherited properties in Jamaica and Ireland from his mother ; this, together with a later inheritance from his father's side, enabled him to be financially independent throughout his life and to devote himself entirely to his botanical and natural history passions. Both his father and mother-in-law encouraged him to devote himself to the study of nature.

Lambert wrote at January 26, 1779 as a commoner at the St Mary Hall of the University of Oxford closed but never one, his studies. At university he met Daniel Lysons, later Joseph Banks and James Edward Smith . After three years of study he left Oxford and lived in London and Salisbury ; he married Catherine, daughter of Richard Bowater of Allesley, Warwickshire. His wife died early. Lambert took a trip to Ireland to visit the family property there.

Lambert became a close friend of James Edward Smith, who enabled him to become a member of the founding of the Linnean Society of London in 1788. In 1796 he was named one of the Society's four Vice Presidents by Smith, and from then until his death he served as Vice President of the Society for nearly fifty years. At the end of his tenure he was the last surviving member from the founding period.

1791 Lambert was elected as a member (" Fellow ") in the Royal Society . Lambert also became a member of the Society of Antiquaries of London and several other associations. In 1826 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina .

When his father died in 1802, Lambert moved from Salisbury to Boyton, where he established a herbarium with about 30,000 specimens .

Towards the end of his life, Lambert left Boyton, who was not very healthy, and moved to a house in Kew Green. He died there on January 10, 1842.

Further honors

The plant genus Lambertia Sm. From the silver tree family (Proteaceae) has been named in his honor by his friend, the British botanist James Edward Smith ; he is also honored by the specific epithet of the sugar pine ( Pinus lambertiana ).

Pinus strobus , illustration by Ferdinand Bauer in Lamber's work A Description of the Genus Pinus

Works

Lambert's main work, to which his employed assistant David Don contributed considerable parts, was his monograph A description of the genus Pinus on the genus of the pines ( Pinus ), which at that time was seen more comprehensively than today and included all conifers. The first volume, which was dedicated to Joseph Banks and contained 43 colored plates, appeared in 1803. The second volume with 12 plates was dedicated to Richard Colt Hoare and appeared in 1824. Of the second edition, the first volume with 36 plates appeared in 1828, the one with 35 plates The equipped second volume was published in 1828, a third volume with 17 plates appeared in 1837. Another edition in two volumes, dedicated to William IV., appeared in 1832.

In 1797 Lambert, supported by Joseph Banks , published his work A description of the genus Cinchona with illustrations by Ferdinand Lucas Bauer , which was based on evidence in the Banksian Herbarium . In 1821 a supplementary volume An illustration of the genus Cinchona was submitted.

Lambert also contributed to the Botanist's guide through England and Wales by Dawson Turner and Lewis Weston Dillwyn , published in 1805, and the English Botany by James Sowerby and James Edward Smith , published from 1790 to 1814 .

Here is a list of works:

literature

  • Robert Zander : Zander concise dictionary of plant names. Edited by Fritz Encke , Günther Buchheim, Siegmund Seybold . 13th, revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-8001-5042-5 .
  • Hortense S. Miller .: The Herbarium of Aylmer Bourke Lambert . In: Taxon . tape 19 , 1970, pp. 489-553 .
  • Elbert L. Little, Jr .: Lambert's 'Description of the Genus Pinus,' 1832 Edition . In: Madrono . tape 10 , 1949, pp. 33-47 .
  • HW Renkema, John Ardagh: Aylmer Bourke Lambert and his 'Description of the Genus Pinus' . In: The Journal of the Linnaean Society of London . tape 48 (1928-1931) , pp. 439-466 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lambert, Aylmer Bourke
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English botanist
DATE OF BIRTH February 2, 1761
PLACE OF BIRTH Bath , Somerset
DATE OF DEATH January 10, 1842
Place of death Kew Green