Job Bicknell Ellis (January 21, 1829 – December 30, 1905) was a pioneering North American
mycologist
Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans, including as a source for tinder, traditional medicine, food, and entheogens, as w ...
known for his study of
ascomycetes
Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The defi ...
, especially the grouping of
fungi
A fungus (plural, : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and Mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified ...
called the Pyrenomycetes (known today as the
Sordariomycetes
Sordariomycetes is a class of fungi in the subdivision Pezizomycotina (Ascomycota), consisting of 28 orders, 90 families, 1344 genera. Sordariomycetes is from the Latin sordes (filth) because some species grow in animal feces, though growth habit ...
). Born and raised in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, he worked as a teacher and farmer before developing an interest in mycology. He collected specimens extensively, and together with his wife, prepared 200,000 sets of dried fungal samples that were sent out to subscribers in series between 1878 and 1894. Together with colleagues
William A. Kellerman
William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conq ...
and Benjamin Matlack Everhart, he founded the ''Journal of Mycology'' in 1885, forerunner to the modern journal ''
Mycologia
''Mycologia'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes papers on all aspects of the fungi
A fungus (plural, : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as ...
''. He described over 4000 species of fungi, and his collection of over 100,000 specimens is currently housed at the
herbarium
A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study.
The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (calle ...
taxa
In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...
of fungi named in his honor.
Life
Ellis was born in
Potsdam, New York
Potsdam ( moh, Tsi tewate’nehtararénies) is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The town population was 14,901 at the 2020 census. The ZIP Code is 13676. When SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson University are in session, the popu ...
on January 21, 1829 to parents Freeman Ellis and Sarah Bicknell. He was the tenth child of fourteen. In 1851, he graduated from
Union College
Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, ...
in
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Yo ...
, the same institution attended by lichenologist
Edward Tuckerman
Edward Tuckerman (December 7, 1817 in Boston, Massachusetts – March 15, 1886) was an American botanist and professor who made significant contributions to the study of lichens and other alpine plants. He was a founding member of the Natura ...
Charles Horton Peck
Charles Horton Peck (March 30, 1833 – July 11, 1917) was an American mycologist of the 19th and early 20th centuries. He was the New York State Botanist from 1867 to 1915, a period in which he described over 2,700 species of North American fu ...
(A.B. 1859). Bicknell began an erratic career as a classics teacher and farmer in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...
, and
South Carolina
)'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = "Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = G ...
. He became the principal of the Canton Academy in 1856, the same year he married Arvilla Jane Bacon, who became his lifelong assistant and collaborator. Their daughter Cora was born on January 12, 1857; she later became a professional musician in New York. It was around this time that Bicknell started developing his interest in botany, by collecting plants with fellow teachers on weekends. He saw a copy of
Henry William Ravenel
Henry William Ravenel (May 19, 1814 – July 17, 1887) was an American planter and botanist. He studied fungi and cryptogams in South Carolina, discovering a large number of new species. The genus '' Ravenelia'' is named after him, along with ma ...
's ''Fungi Caroliniani Exsiccati'', a set of dried specimens (exsiccati) collected from
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...
and area. Ellis initiated a correspondence with Ravenel, and established a friendship that lasted until Ravenel's death in 1887.
Ellis taught in a public school in Potsdam village in 1863, and later served on the Union side in the
American civil war
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...
from 1864 to 1865. He served on the steam frigate
USS Susquehanna
Four ships of the United States Navy have been named USS or USNS ''Susquehanna'', for the Susquehanna River which rises in Lake Otsego in central New York and flows across Pennsylvania and the northeastern corner of Maryland into the Chesapeake B ...
of the
North Atlantic Blockading Squadron
The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading.
The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the monitoring of of Atlantic ...
, and was present during the bombardment of
Fort Fisher
Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort during the American Civil War. It protected the vital trading routes of the port at Wilmington, North Carolina, from 1861 until its capture by the Union in 1865. The fort was located on one of Cape Fear Rive ...
on December 24–25, 1864 and January 13–15, 1865, when the Fort was captured. The war took its toll on his spirits; his April 22, 1865 diary entry reads: "I have felt degraded ever since I have been here & no amount of money & I might perhaps safely say no motive not even patriotism will ever induce me to put myself in the like position again." He was discharged from the Navy on May 18, 1865, and returned to Potsdam. After the war Ellis settled in
Benjamin Matlock Everhart Benjamin Matlack Everhart (born 24 April 1818; died 22 September 1904) was a United States mycologist.
Biography
His father, William Everhart, the son of a Revolutionary soldier, was a merchant, and a member of congress in 1853-55. Benjamin was edu ...
, a wealthy merchant of
West Chester, Pennsylvania
West Chester is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough and the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania, Chester County, Pennsylvania. Located within the Delaware Valley, Philadelphia metropolitan area, the borough had a population of 18,461 at the ...
. Together they co-authored ''North American Pyrenomycetes'' (1892). With
William A. Kellerman
William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conq ...
, Ellis and Everhart founded the ''Journal of Mycology'' in 1885, a forerunner to ''
Mycologia
''Mycologia'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes papers on all aspects of the fungi
A fungus (plural, : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as ...
''. Most of the articles in the first issues were written by Ellis. He published many of his newly discovered species in the journal, as well as the ''Botanical Gazette'', '' Torrey Bulletin'', ''
American Naturalist
''The American Naturalist'' is the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society of Naturalists, whose purpose is "to advance and to diffuse knowledge of organic evolution and other broad biological principles so as to enhance th ...
'', and ''Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy''. In 1896, near the end of his life, Ellis sold his collection of over 100,000 specimens to 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, a ...
for its Cryptogamic Herbarium, including the
types
Type may refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc.
* Data type, collection of values used for computations.
* File type
* TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file.
* Ty ...
of 4,000 new species described by Ellis and his collaborators. The Garden Library also received a "large cache" of his letters in 1983. Ellis was a prolific author, and published over 500 scientific articles. He died December 30, 1905 in Newfield.
Memberships and societies
Ellis was honored by several
scientific societies
A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership may ...
. In 1878, he was elected a corresponding member of Philadelphia's
Academy of Natural Sciences
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading natu ...
. In August 1882 he was elected a corresponding member of the Cryptogamic Society of Scotland and in December of the same year was elected a corresponding member of "Die Kaiserlich-Königliche Zoologisch-Botanische Gesellschaft in Wien".
Eponymous taxa
*'' Ellisiella'' Bat. 1956
*''Ellisiella'' Sacc. 1881 (now ''
Colletotrichum
''Colletotrichum'' (sexual stage: ''Glomerella'') is a genus of fungi that are symbionts to plants as endophytes (living within the plant) or phytopathogens. Many of the species in this genus are plant pathogens, but some species may have a mu ...
Jobellisia
''Jobellisia'' is a genus of fungi within the family Jobiellaceae, class Sordariomycetes. The genus was circumscribed by Margaret Elizabeth Barr-Bigelow in 1993 with '' J. luteola'' as the type species. It contains species that grow on dead w ...
Zasmidium cellare
''Zasmidium cellare'', also known as cellar mold, is a species of fungus that exists in dark, ethanol-rich environments and is brown to black in colour. This species primarily exists in wine and brandy cellars in central and southern Europe, but ...