Charles Budd Robinson, Jr. (October 26, 1871 – December 5, 1913) was a Canadian

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and explorer. The standard author abbreviation C.B.Rob. is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.

Early life

Born in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

to Charles Budd and Frances Robinson, Robinson gained his degree from

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

in 1891 before taking up teaching posts in Kentville and Pictou. He received his doctorate from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1906. Robinson worked with the

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

(NYBG) from 1903 to 1908, leaving to become an economic botanist with the Bureau of Science in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

. After a brief return to NYBG in 1911, he went back to Manila to continue his research.

Death

Robinson never returned after leaving on a botanical expedition to the

Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonics, Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West ...

on December 5, 1913. He was reported as missing on December 11, with the assistant resident of Amboina (now Ambon in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

) writing about the nature of his disappearance. He concluded that Robinson had been murdered. The report states that Robinson had encountered a native boy who had climbed a coconut tree, startling the boy who was not used to seeing a "European". The boy hurried to his village whereupon the locals feared that Robinson intended to do them harm, possibly believing him to be a head-hunter. Six people from the village killed him and sank his body into the sea. The natives from the village have been described as "binongkos", a band of Sea Gypsies who lived in the Maluku Islands. In Robinson's obituary it was written that he was "struck down by the hands of ignorant and savage natives" while "in the peaceful pursuit of his profession and in his zealous endeavors to augment the sum of human knowledge". Robinson's death may have been caused by linguistic confusion, as he was known to speak the local language quite poorly. The Malay word for coconut, "kelapa" may have been confused with "kepala", the word for "head". If Robinson asked the boy to cut, "potong", down a coconut it may have been mispronounced and heard as a threat to cut off someone's head. There was a local myth of a werewolf-like decapitator called a "potong kepala" and it is speculated Robinson was mistaken for one.

Noted publications

*1903 ''Contributions to a flora of Nova Scotia'' *1906 ''The Chareae of North America'' *1909 ''Philippine Boraginaceae'' *1910 ''Philippine Urticaceae''. The Philippine journal of science. C. Botany *1911 ''Alabastra Philippinensia'' *1912 ''Polycodium''. Contributions from the New York Botanical Garden

References

External links

*
Harvard University Herbaria – Charles Budd Robinson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Charles Budd 1871 births 1913 deaths 20th-century Canadian botanists Dalhousie University alumni Columbia University alumni Botanists with author abbreviations Unsolved murders in Indonesia Canadian expatriates in the United States Canadian expatriates in the Philippines Canadian expatriates Expatriates in the Dutch East Indies Academics from Nova Scotia People murdered in Indonesia Canadian people murdered abroad

Early life

Death

See also

Noted publications

References

External links