John McConnell Black

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John McConnell Black (born April 28, 1855 in Wigtown , Scotland , † December 2, 1951 in North Adelaide , South Australia ) was a British- Australian linguist and botanist . Its botanical author abbreviation is " JMBlack ".

Early years

John McConnell Black was born in Wigtown in western Scotland as the third of four children of the banker George Couper Black and his wife Ellen (née Barham). His older sister Helen later became the second wife of the theater impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte .

Black attended the "Wigtown Grammer School", the Edinburgh Academy , the "Taunton College School" and a business school in Dresden .

Working life

Black worked at the British Linen Bank in Edinburgh and the Oriental Bank in London .

In 1877 he emigrated to South Australia with his widowed mother, a sister and a brother . When he could not find work in the banks in Adelaide, he tried in 1878 as a farmer and built in Sign land at "Baroota" wheat at. The trained linguist understood many foreign languages, including Arabic, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish. In 1877 he emigrated to Australia and developed a great interest in the languages ​​of the Aborigines and in the flora of the dry land. 1915-1920 he edited three papers on the vocabulary of the languages ​​of the Australian Aborigines.

Since growing grain proved inefficient, Black gave it up again in 1883, moved to Adelaide and worked as a journalist on the South Australia Register . He later became a chief reporter and a respected publisher of the Advertiser .

botany

The inheritance of his mother, who died in 1903, was so financially good for Black that he was able to give up his work as a journalist and set out on a journey through South America and Europe . After returning to Australia, he concentrated on systematic botany . He was particularly interested in the previously little noticed, introduced plants and "weeds" that spread near Australian cities. The legacy of his sister Helen, who died in 1913, enabled him financially from 1914 to work on the local flora.

John McConnell Black published a number of standard works of systematic botany, which he himself illustrated and in which he described 2,430 different species. Although he had never studied biology, he was considered the best systematic botanist in South Australia for 50 years. He built his own herbarium , which he later bequeathed to the University of Adelaide . He also dealt with taxonomically complicated genera such as Eucalyptus , Acacia and Stipa .

Family life and death

On September 11, 1879, John McConnell Black married Alice Denford , who shared his preferences for cycling and botany. They had a daughter and three sons together.

Black died on December 2, 1951 at his home in North Adelaide at the age of 96.

Publications (selection)

  • The Naturalized Flora of South Australia , 1909
  • The Flora of South Australia , 4 volumes, 1922–1929
  • Revised new edition of The Flora of South Australia , Volume 1, 1943
  • Revised new edition of The Flora of South Australia , Volume 2, 1948
  • Revised new edition of The Flora of South Australia , Volume 3, 1952 (posthumous)

Honors

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Enid Robertson: Black, John McConnell (1855–1951) . Australian Dictionary of Biography (with picture) . Retrieved May 3, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Black, John McConnell
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British-Australian linguist and botanist
DATE OF BIRTH April 28, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH Wigtown , Scotland
DATE OF DEATH 2nd December 1951
Place of death North Adelaide , South Australia