Charles Crossland (3 September 1844 – 9 December 1916) was an English

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and ...

Background and career

Charles Crossland was born in Halifax,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. His parents ran a general store and Charles left school at 13 to help them run the business. He trained as a butcher and opened a shop in Wyke in 1864, the same year he married Mary Ann Cragg. The couple had four children, two dying in infancy, and Mary Ann herself died in 1869. Charles remarried in 1871 and had two children by his second wife, Clementina Foster. In 1873, the couple returned to Halifax, where they opened a butcher's shop which they continued to run till Charles largely retired from the trade (leaving the shop mostly in the hands of a managing partner) in 1890. He was treasurer of the Halifax Butchers' Association from 1881 to 1908 and often referred to himself as a "Knight of the Cleaver". He spoke and was interested in the local Halifax dialect, publishing a number of papers on local place-names and surnames in the ''Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society'', of which he was a member, eventually becoming the society's president. In later years, he also compiled a bibliography of Halifax, parts of which were published in the ''Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society'', as well as a local guide book, ''Pleasant walks around Halifax'' (1910). He died in Halifax on 9 December 1916.

Mycology

Crossland initially became interested in

botany 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 ...

in 1880, whilst helping one of his daughters with a Sunday school wild flower project. He joined the Halifax Scientific Society to pursue his new-found enthusiasm, and subsequently the

Yorkshire Naturalists' Union The Yorkshire Naturalists' Union is an association of amateur and professional naturalists covering a wide range of aspects of natural history. It is one of United Kingdom's oldest extant wildlife organisations and oldest natural history federati ...

. In 1888, at a YNU fungus foray, Crossland met

George Edward Massee George Edward Massee (20 December 1845 – 16 February 1917) was an English mycologist, plant pathologist, and botanist. Background and education George Massee was born in Scampston, East Riding of Yorkshire, the son of a farmer. He was educ ...

who encouraged him to take an interest in

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

. As a result, he developed an expertise in

mycology Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, genetics, biochemistry, biochemical properties, and ethnomycology, use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, Edible ...

, with a particular interest in the

discomycetes Discomycetes is a former taxonomic class of Ascomycete fungi which contains all of the cup, sponge and brain fungi, and some club-like fungi. It includes typical cup fungi like the scarlet elf cup and the orange peel fungus, and fungi with frui ...

, making extensive local collections, often in the company of Henry Thomas Soppitt and fellow mycologist and bryologist James Needham. Crossland produced many papers on Yorkshire fungi, including several describing species new to science. His two major works were the cryptogamic section of the ''Flora of the parish of Halifax'', jointly authored with botanist W.B. Crump in 1904, and ''The Fungus Flora of Yorkshire'', a substantial volume co-authored with Massee, in 1905. His collections of fungi, drawings, and notes are now in the mycological herbarium at the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

. Charles Crossland became the first secretary of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union Mycological Committee in 1892, becoming president of the union itself in 1907. He was a founder member of the

British Mycological Society The British Mycological Society is a learned society established in 1896 to promote the study of fungi. Formation The British Mycological Society (BMS) was formed by the combined efforts of two local societies: the Woolhope Naturalists' Fiel ...

, becoming its first treasurer in 1896. He was made a fellow of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

in 1899.

Taxa

Crossland described several new

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of fungi from Yorkshire, either individually or with Soppitt or Massee. These included several

agarics An agaric () is a type of fungal fruiting body characterized by the presence of a pileus (cap) that is clearly differentiated from the stipe (stalk), with lamellae (gills) on the underside of the pileus. It is a type of mushroom (or toadstool), ...

, notably '' Lactarius glaucescens'' Crossl., but were mostly

, including ''Ascophanus globosopulvinatus'' (Crossl.) Boud. ex Ramsb., ''Niptera pilosa'' (Crossl.) Boud., ''Melastiza contorta'' (Massee & Crossl.) Spooner & Y.J. Yao, and ''Scutellinia citrina'' (Massee & Crossl.) Spooner & Y.J. Yao. A number of species were named in Crossland's honour, including ''Clavaria crosslandii''

Cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

, ''Ascobolus crosslandii'' Boud., and ''Octospora crosslandii'' (

Dennis Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius. The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is some ...

& Itzerott) Benkert.

Selected publications

*Crossland, C. (1892). New and rare fungi near Halifax. ''The Naturalist'' 1892: 371–372 *Crossland, C. (1899). ''Mollisia cinerea'' and its varieties. ''Transactions of the British Mycological Society'' 1: 106–109. *Crump, W.B. & Crossland, C. (1904). ''The flora of the parish of Halifax''. Halifax Scientific Society https://archive.org/stream/floraofparishofh1904crum#page/n5/mode/2up *Massee. G. & Crossland, C. (1905). ''The fungus flora of Yorkshire''. London: A. Brown https://archive.org/stream/fungusfloraofyor00mass#page/n0/mode/2up

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crossland, Charles 1844 births 1916 deaths 19th-century British biologists British Mycological Society English mycologists Fellows of the Linnean Society of London 19th-century English botanists 20th-century English botanists People from Halifax, West Yorkshire