Stephen Elliott (botanist)

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Stephen Elliott, from Garden & Forest Magazine , Vol. 7 (1894), p. 204

Stephen Elliott (born November 11, 1771 in Beaufort , Province of South Carolina , † March 28, 1830 in Charleston (South Carolina) ) was an American lawmaker , banker , teacher and botanist , who today is the author of one of the most important US American botanical works ( A Sketch of the Botany of South-Carolina and Georgia ). Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Elliott ".

Life

Stephen Elliott grew up in his hometown of Beaufort, South Carolina and left this to study at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated from this in 1791 as a farewell speaker (an academic title in the Anglo-Saxon university system). He returned to South Carolina from Connecticut to work the inherited plantation.

He was elected to the legislature of South Carolina in 1793 or 1796 (sources contradict) and served there until about 1800. He then left the legislature and devoted himself to the management of his plantation. He was re-elected to the legislature in 1808 and worked at a state bank. After it was founded in 1812, Elliott left the legislature and was appointed president of what was then the Bank of the State of South Carolina . He held this post until the end of his life.

He devoted his free time to literature and science, with particular enthusiasm for exploring the flora . Elliott was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1808 . In 1813 he was instrumental in founding the Literary and Philosophical Society of South Carolina , of which he was president. In 1825 he helped found the Medical College of South Carolina and was appointed professor of natural history and botany. He taught until his death in 1830.

Stephen Elliott took an active part in a long correspondence with many botanists of his time, but wrote a particularly large number of letters to Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg from Pennsylvania . Elliott's material, collected on several field trips , and his intimate knowledge of the flora of the southeastern United States was of great value to other botanists. Elliott's herbarium was one of the largest of its time in the United States. The evidence it contained has been invaluable to John Torrey , Asa Gray, and others. The herbarium is kept in the Charleston Museum .

A Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgia

His classic work A Sketch of the Botany of South-Carolina and Georgia contains the first scientific descriptions of many species . These descriptions validated many of the nouns nuda published by Muhlenberg . Originally published in several sequels between 1816 and 1824, the work was later combined into two volumes: Volume I in 1821 and Volume II in 1824 (the dates denoting the last continuation, not the original publication of the volumes). The volumes were edited with the assistance of James McBride.

The magazine Science described in 1900 Elliott as " the father of southern botany " (about: the father of botany of the south). Frank Lamson-Scribner wrote the following about Elliott's sketch in 1901 :

"Not until one has prepared a book where almost every line contains a statement of fact learned from original observation can he fully appreciate the amount of patience and labor involved in the preparation of such a work as the Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgia ... today it remains indispensable to the working systematic botanists of our country.

For example: Before someone has created a book like this, where facts are given in almost every line that come from their own observation, one can appreciate the amount of patience and work that goes into a work like Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgia is stuck ... and remains indispensable for the systematically working botanist in our country to this day. "

family

His son Stephen (1806–1866) was Bishop of the Episcopal Church .

Honors

The plant genus Elliottia Muhl. ex Elliott from the heather family (Ericaceae) is named after him.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Charles Sprague Sargent: Stephen Elliott . In: Garden and Forest . 7, 1894, p. 204.
  2. ^ "Stephen Elliott (1771-1830) Papers" In: Archives of the Gray Herbarium. In: The Harvard University Herbaria. (see individual evidence below).
  3. ↑ a b biography of Stephen Elliott In: Archives of the Gray Herbarium. Archived from the original on May 30, 2009 ; accessed on November 21, 2017 . In: The Harvard University Herbaria
  4. ↑ Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter E . American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  5. ^ A b Wilson, James Grant & Fiske, John (Eds.) 1900. "Elliott, Stephen". In: Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York, D. Appleton.
  6. ↑ a b Joseph Ewan. "Editors Introduction" In: 1971 reprint of A Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgia In Classica Botanica Americana (series). Hafner Publishing Company, New York. 1971.
  7. ^ Science, American Association for the Advancement of: The Last Quarter-A Reminiscence and an Outlook . In: Science . 12, No. 292, Aug 3, 1900, pp. 162-163. doi : 10.1126 / science.ns-12.296.162-a . PMID 17799745 .
  8. ↑ Joseph Ewan. "Editors Introduction" In: 1971 reprint of A Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgia In Classica Botanica Americana (series). Hafner Publishing Company: New York. 1971. page V
  9. ^ Taxonomic Literature Online . Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  10. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names . Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018. [1]

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Elliott, Stephen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician, banker, teacher, and botanist
DATE OF BIRTH November 11, 1771
PLACE OF BIRTH Beaufort, South Carolina
DATE OF DEATH March 28, 1830
Place of death Charleston, South Carolina