Charles Russell Orcutt

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles Russell Orcutt (born April 27, 1864 in Hartland (Vermont) , † August 24, 1929 in Haiti ) was an American naturalist and plant hunter who was particularly concerned with succulents . Its collections form the basis for the San Diego Natural History Museum . Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Orcutt ".

Live and act

Charles Russell Orcutt was the first son of Herman Chandler Orcutt and Eliza Eastin Gray Orcutt. He had four siblings. In 1879 his family moved from Vermont to San Diego . Herman Orcutt was one of America's horticultural pioneers and opened a nursery near the ruins of the San Diego de Alcalá Mission on El Camino Real .

Charles Russell obtained his education largely independently and from his youth had a great interest in natural sciences, especially zoology and botany . He accompanied his father on excursions around San Diego and made an expedition to Ensenada with his father and the botanist Charles Christopher Parry in 1882 , during which, although he was employed as an expedition driver, he learned intensively how to collect and prepare plants, as he himself emphasized throughout his life .

With his growing interest in plants and their horticultural value, the radius of his excursion area grew. He was constantly on the lookout for species that had not yet been described. He explored southern California , Baja California , Mexico , Central America and finally the Caribbean with the West Indies . Since he paid special attention to cactus plants and discovered many new species , he was soon given the nickname The Cactus Man .

His areas of interest and his passion for collecting made him an important member of the San Diego Society of Natural History . He bequeathed many herbarium records of his new finds to this society. In 1893, 1902 and 1903 he was a member of its board.

Orcutt left San Diego in the late 1920s to settle in Jamaica and Haiti and continue research there. When he died at the age of 65, he was buried in Haiti in accordance with his will in accordance with his will.

Honors

Charles Orcutt was elected a life member of the San Diego Society of Natural History on June 5, 1885 . Many plant species, fossil and recent mollusks and reptiles perpetuate his name in their epithets . The Orcuttia Vasey plant genus from the sweet grass family (Poaceae) is also named after him.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helen DuShane: The Baja California Travels of CR Orcutt . Los Angeles 1971
  2. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .

further reading

  • Anne D. Bullard: Charles Russell Orcutt: Pioneer Naturalist . In: The Journal of San Diego History . Volume 40, Number 1/2, 1994 (online) .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Orcutt, Charles Russell
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Orcutt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American naturalist
DATE OF BIRTH April 27, 1864
PLACE OF BIRTH Hartland (Vermont)
DATE OF DEATH August 24, 1929
Place of death Haiti