Lucien Marcus Underwood (October 26, 1853 – November 16, 1907) was an 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
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 ...
of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Early life and career
He was born in
New Woodstock, New York
New Woodstock is a hamlet in the town of Cazenovia, Madison County, New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located ...
. He enrolled at
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...
in 1873 and graduated in 1877. He earned his masters in 1878
and finally and completed his PhD in 1879 under
Alexander Winchell
Alexander Winchell (December 31, 1824, in North East, New York – February 19, 1891, in Ann Arbor, Michigan) was an American geologist who contributed to this field mainly as an educator and a popular lecturer and writer. His views on evolutio ...
.
During his graduate school, he taught at
Cazenovia Seminary
Cazenovia College was a private college in Cazenovia, New York. Founded as the Genesee Seminary in 1824 and sponsored by the Methodist Church in 1894, the college adopted the name of "Cazenovia Seminary". It was reorganized in 1942 after church s ...
for two years.
After a year's teaching at
Hedding College
Hedding College was a college in Abingdon, Illinois, that operated from 1855 to 1927. The school was named after Methodist Bishop Elizah Hedding. Merged with Illinois Wesleyan University in 1930. The campus was used by the Roosevelt Military Acad ...
, in 1880 he was appointed professor of geology and botany in
Illinois Wesleyan University
Illinois Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Bloomington, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1850, the central portion of the present campus was acquired in 1854 with the first building erected in 1856.
History
The in ...
. In 1883, he was appointed professor of geology, botany, and zoology at Syracuse.
In 1890, he accepted the Morgan Fellowship at Harvard University to study the Sullivant and Taylor collection of
hepatics
Liverworts are a group of non-vascular land plants forming the division Marchantiophyta (). They may also be referred to as hepatics. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry onl ...
.
In 1891 he became professor of botany in
De Pauw University
DePauw University ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Greencastle, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1837 as Indiana Asbury College and changed its name to DePauw University in 1884. The college has a Methodist heritage and was fo ...
. In 1896, after one year stint as a biology professor at
Alabama Polytechnic Institute
Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a total enrollment of more than 34,000 students ...
(''Auburn''),
Underwood became a professor of botany at
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 joined the staff of 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, ...
in 1907.
Works
Underwood published numerous papers in botanical journals, and was the author o
''Our Native Ferns and how to study them''(Bloomington, Ill., 1881; 4th ed., 1893), ''Descriptive Catalogue of North American
Hepaticae
Liverworts are a group of non-vascular land plants forming the division Marchantiophyta (). They may also be referred to as hepatics. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry onl ...
'' (New York, 1884) and “Hepaticae” in
Gray
Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...
's ''Manual of Botany''. He also prepared the
exsiccata
Exsiccata (Latin, ''gen.'' -ae, ''plur.'' -ae) is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae are numbered collections of dried herbarium Biological specimen, spe ...
work ''An Illustrated Century of Fungi'' with 100 specimens (1889), and together with
Orator F. Cook the
exsiccata
Exsiccata (Latin, ''gen.'' -ae, ''plur.'' -ae) is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae are numbered collections of dried herbarium Biological specimen, spe ...
work ''Hepaticae Americanae'' with 160 specimens (1887–93) and ''Hepaticae Americanae'' with 200 specimens (1887–99).
[Triebel, D. & Scholz, P. 2001–2024 ''IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae''. – Botanische Staatssammlung München: http://indexs.botanischestaatssammlung.de. – München, Germany.]
Underwood's papers are maintained at the
LuEsther T. Mertz Library of 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, ...
.
Personal life
After losing large amounts of money on Wall Street in the
Panic of 1907
The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic or Knickerbocker Crisis, was a financial crisis that took place in the United States over a three-week period starting in mid-October, when the New York Stock Exchange suddenly fell almost ...
, Underwood attempted to murder his wife and daughter before committing suicide at the family's home in
Redding, Connecticut
Redding is a New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,765 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Regi ...
.
See also
*
:Taxa named by Lucien Marcus Underwood
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Underwood, Lucien Marcus
1853 births
1907 deaths
1907 suicides
American mycologists
Auburn University faculty
Cazenovia College faculty
DePauw University faculty
Illinois Wesleyan University faculty
People from Madison County, New York
American pteridologists
Scientists from New York (state)
Suicides by sharp instrument in the United States
Suicides in Connecticut
Syracuse University College of Arts and Sciences alumni
Syracuse University faculty
Torrey Botanical Society members