Nathaniel Lord Britton (1859 – 1934) 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

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the science, scientific study of naming, defining (Circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxon, taxa (si ...

who co-founded 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 the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

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 in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Early life

Britton was born on the 15 of January 1859 at

New Dorp New Dorp ( ) is a neighborhood on the South Shore of Staten Island, New York City, United States. New Dorp is bounded by Mill Road on the southeast, Tysens Lane on the southwest, Amboy and Richmond Roads on the northwest, and Bancroft Avenue on ...

, Richmond County,

New York (state) New York, also called New York State, is a U.S. state, state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlanti ...

to Jasper Alexander Hamilton Britton and Harriet Lord Turner. His parents wanted him to study religion, but he was attracted to

nature study The nature study movement (alternatively, Nature Study or nature-study) was a popular education movement that originated in the United States and spread throughout the English-speaking world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nature study ...

at an early age. He was a graduate of the Columbia University School of Mines and afterwards taught

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

and

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 ...

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 ...

. He joined the Torrey Botanical Club soon after graduation and was a member his entire life. Britton was an elected member of the United States

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

, the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

, and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. He married Elizabeth Gertrude Knight, a bryologist, on August 27, 1885. They had met when she joined the club and were lifelong collaborators in botanical research.

New York Botanical Garden

During their honeymoon in 1888, they visited

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

, which led to his wife proposing a botanical garden for New York at a Torrey Club meeting. Together, they campaigned to bring about the NYBG. Britton left Columbia in 1895 to become the first director of the New York Botanical Garden, a position he held until 1929. He was on the first Board of Managers for the institution, along with

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

, J. Pierpont Morgan, and

Cornelius Vanderbilt II Cornelius "Corneil" Vanderbilt II (November 27, 1843 – September 12, 1899) was an American socialite and a member of the prominent United States Vanderbilt family. Noted forebears He was the favorite grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbil ...

. He engendered substantial financial support for the botanical garden by naming plants after wealthy contributors.

Scientific research

Much of his field work was done in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

, where he visited frequently when the winter weather in New York City became too severe. His contributions to the study of Caribbean flora are undisputed. He wrote ''Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada, and the British Possessions'' (1896) with Addison Brown, and ''

The Cactaceae ''The Cactaceae'' is a monograph on plants of the cactus family written by the American botanists Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose and published in multiple volumes between 1919 and 1923. It was landmark study that extensively reor ...

'' with

Joseph Nelson Rose Joseph Nelson Rose (January 11, 1862 – May 4, 1928) was an American botanist. He was born in Union County, Indiana. His father died serving during the Civil War when Joseph Rose was a young boy. He later graduated from high school in Liberty, ...

. Britton is also remembered as one of the signatories of the American Code of

Botanical Nomenclature Botanical nomenclature is the formal, scientific naming of plants. It is related to, but distinct from taxonomy (biology), taxonomy. Plant taxonomy is concerned with grouping and classifying plants; Botany, botanical nomenclature then provides na ...

that proposed such radical changes to the rules governing nomenclature that a compromise was not reached (and some of the principal American provisions adopted) until nearly 30 years later.

Death and legacy

He died at his home in the Bronx on June 25, 1934, after suffering a stroke 9 weeks earlier. The house he lived and worked in, the

Britton Cottage The Britton Cottage, formerly known as the Cubberly House, is a house in the Historic Richmond Town museum complex in the neighborhood of Richmondtown, Staten Island, in New York City. The oldest section of the cottage dates to 1671, with additio ...

, is preserved at

Historic Richmond Town Historic Richmond Town is a town and farm museum complex in the neighborhood of Richmondtown, Staten Island, Richmondtown, Staten Island, in New York City. It is located near the geographical center of the island, at the junction of Richmond Ro ...

on Staten Island. The genera '' Brittonastrum'' (now a synonym of '' Agastache'' Clayton ex Gronov.), '' Brittonella'' (a synonym of '' Mionandra'' Griseb.), ''Brittonamra'' (which is now a synonym of ''

Coursetia ''Coursetia'' is a genus of flowering plant in the pea family, Fabaceae. Members of the genus, commonly known as babybonnets, are shrubs and small trees native to the Southwestern United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South ...

'' DC.), ''

Brittonia ''Brittonia'' is a quarterly, peer-reviewed botanical journal, publishing articles on plants, fungi, algae, and lichens. Published since 1931, it is named after the botanist Nathaniel Lord Britton. Since 2007, the journal has been published by Spr ...

'' (synonym of '' Ferocactus'' Britton & Rose), and '' Brittonrosea'' (a synonym of ''

Echinocactus ''Echinocactus'' is a genus of cacti in the subfamily Cactoideae. The generic name derives from the Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient w ...

'' Link & Otto) and also '' Neobrittonia'', as well as the botanical journal ''

'' are all named after him.

Works

John Hendley Barnhart John Hendley Barnhart (October 4, 1871 – November 11, 1949) was an American botanist and author, specializing in biographies of botanists.Gleaston, H. A. John Hendley Barnhart—An appreciation. '' Journal of the New York Botanical Garden'' Augu ...

contributed a bibliography of all of Britton's works to ''Biographical memoir of Nathaniel Lord Britton, 1859-1934'' authored by

Elmer Drew Merrill Elmer Drew Merrill (October 15, 1876 – February 25, 1956) was an American botanist and taxonomist. He spent more than twenty years in the Philippines where he became a recognized authority on the flora of the Asia-Pacific region. Through ...

and presented to the

at the annual meeting, 1938. In 1960, Henry A. Gleason published ''The scientific work of Nathanial Lord Britton'', where he summarized and provided commentary on Britton's early botanical activities, botanical organizations, his nomenclatural work, the ''Illustrated Flora'', his leadership of the

, his ''West Indian Flora'', his ''North America Flora'', his ''Flora of Northern South America'', his ''North American Trees'', and his monographic work. * * * * *
A preliminary catalogue of the flora of New Jersey
(1881) Et al.
An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British possessions from Newfoundland to the parallel of the southern boundary of Virginia, and from the Atlantic ocean westward to the 102d meridian
3 volumes. (1896–98) With Addison Brown.
Contributions to the botany of the Yukon Territory
(1901) Et al.
Manual of the flora of the northern states and Canada
(1901)
The sedges of Jamaica
(1907)
Studies in West Indian plants
(1908–26)
Rhipsalis in the West Indies
(1909)
An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British possessions
(Vol. 1–3, 1913) With Addison Brown.
The vegetation of Mona Island
(1915)
Flora of Bermuda
(1918)
The flora of the American Virgin Islands
(1918)
Descriptions of Cuban plants new to science
(1920)
The Bahama flora
(1920) With Charles Frederick Millspaugh.
Neoabbottia, a new cactus genus from Hispaniola
(1921)
The Cactaceae
(1919 - 1923) online *With Henry Hurd Rusby he issued 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 ...

''Plantae Bolivianae a Miguel Bang lectae''.

References

External links

* *New York Botanical Garden, Archives and Manuscript Collection
"Nathaniel Lord Britton Records (1875-1934)"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Britton, Nathaniel Lord 1859 births 1934 deaths American mycologists American bryologists American pteridologists Botanists active in the Caribbean Botanical Society of America New York Botanical Garden Torrey Botanical Society members Columbia University faculty Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni People from New Dorp, Staten Island 19th-century American botanists 20th-century American botanists Scientists from New York City Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Members of the American Philosophical Society Biologists from New York (state)