Parry circa 1875 Charles Christopher Parry (August 28, 1823 – February 20, 1890) was a British-American

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

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

Biography

Parry was born in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, but moved to the United States with his parents in 1832, settling first in

Washington County, New York Washington County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 61,302. The county seat is Fort Edward. The county was named for U.S. President George Washington. The county is part of the Capital Dis ...

. He studied

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

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 ...

, and botany under

John Torrey John Torrey (August 15, 1796 – March 10, 1873) was an American botany, botanist, chemist, and physician. Throughout much of his career, he was a teacher of chemistry, often at multiple universities, while he also pursued botanical work, focus ...

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botany, botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' (1876) was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessaril ...

and

George Engelmann George Engelmann, also known as Georg Engelmann, (2 February 1809 – 4 February 1884) was a German-American botanist. He was instrumental in describing the flora (plants), flora of the west of North America, then very poorly known to Europeans; ...

. He moved to

Davenport, Iowa Davenport ( ) is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state. Davenport had a population of 101,724 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cen ...

in 1846 where he practiced as a doctor for a short time before joining the

United States and Mexican Boundary Survey The United States and Mexican Boundary Survey was a Surveying, land survey that took play from 1848 to 1855 to determine the Mexico–United States border as defined in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the treaty that ended the Mexican–American ...

(1848–1855) as

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

and botanist. He made extensive plant collections along the U.S.-Mexico border in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and later in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

and other western states, many of which proved to be new species. Important plants he was the first to describe include the Torrey pine and

Engelmann spruce ''Picea engelmannii'', with the common names Engelmann spruce, white spruce, mountain spruce, and silver spruce, is a species of spruce native to western North America. It is highly prized for producing distinctive tone wood for acoustic guitars ...

, which he named in honour of his mentors. Dozens of plants are named after him, including the

Parry Pinyon ''Pinus quadrifolia'', the Parry pinyon, is a pine in the pinyon pine group native to southernmost California in the United States and northern Baja California in Mexico, from 33° 30' N south to 30° 30' N. The Parry pinyon has a lifespan of aro ...

, Parry's Lily, Parry's primrose, and Parry's Penstemon. In addition, the genera ''

Neoparrya ''Neoparrya'' is a monotypic taxon, monotypic genus of flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae. Its only species is ''Neoparrya lithophila'', also known by the common names Bill's neoparrya Apiaceae Apiaceae () or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium,'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot, or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering p ...

family), and ''

Parryella ''Parryella filifolia'', the common dunebroom, is a species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae. It is the only member of the genus ''Parryella''. It is native to Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. It ...

'' in 1868 (

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

family) were also named in his honor. Parry made the first barometric measurements of the heights of many of Colorado's mountains. Although he did not reach the summit, he estimated the height of

Longs Peak Longs Peak is a mountain in the northern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The fourteener is located in the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness, southwest by south ( bearing 209°) of the Town of Estes Park, Colorado, ...

, and he was the first to climb and measure

Grays Peak Grays Peak is the tenth-highest summit of the Rocky Mountains of North America and the U.S. state of Colorado. The prominent fourteener is the highest summit of the Front Range and the highest point on the Continental Divide and the Contine ...

Parry Peak Parry Peak, elevation , is a summit in the Front Range of central Colorado. The peak is on the continental divide southeast of Winter Park in the Arapaho National Forest. The name honors Charles Christopher Parry, a botanist who made extensive ...

(4,082 m / 13,391 feet) in Colorado is also named after him.W. H. Brewer, Explorations in the Rocky Mountains and the High Peaks of Colorado
Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York
Vol 3 (1872); pages 193-215. His archive is held at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricult ...

References

External links

Iowa State University: Parry archivesCharles Christopher Parry Digital CollectionCharles Christopher Parry - King of Colorado Botany
( University Press of Colorado)
Parry Peak
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parry, Charles Christopher English botanists English taxonomists 1823 births 1890 deaths Botanists active in North America Botanists with author abbreviations American mountain climbers English mountain climbers Union College (New York) alumni Columbia University alumni English emigrants to the United States People from Gloucestershire Sportspeople from Gloucestershire 19th-century American botanists 19th-century British botanists Scientists from New York (state)