Sidney Fay Blake (1892–1959) was an American botanist and plant taxonomist, "recognized as one of the world's experts on botanical nomenclature."

Biography

Blake was born in 1892 in

Stoughton, Massachusetts Stoughton (official name: Town of Stoughton) is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 29,281 at the 2020 census. The town is located approximately from Boston, from Providence, Rhode Island, and from Cape ...

. In 1912, he received a bachelor's degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, a master's degree in 1913, and a Ph.D. in

botany Botany, also called plant science (or plant sciences), plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "bot ...

in 1917 with a thesis on ''

Viguiera ''Viguiera'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. The name honours French physician L. G. Alexandre Viguier (1790–1867). It contains around 150 species, which are commonly known as goldeneyes and are native to the New World. ...

''. The same year he received his Ph.D., he started his botanical career at the Bureau of Plant Industry for the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

, and worked there till he died in 1959. In 1943 he was elected president of the

American Society of Plant Taxonomists The American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT) is a botanical organization formed in 1935 to "foster, encourage, and promote education and research in the field of plant taxonomy, to include those areas and fields of study that contribute to and ...

. Blake published many articles and monographs but only one two-volume work, ''Geographical Guide to Floras of the World''. The first volume, co-authored by Alice C. Atwood (1876–1947), was published in 1942. The second volume, written by Blake alone, was published in 1961 two years after his death. He married the entomologist Doris M. Holmes in 1918. They had one daughter. In 1930, botanist

Standl. Paul Carpenter Standley (March 21, 1884 – June 2, 1963) was an American botanist known for his work on neotropical plants. __TOC__ Standley was born on March 21, 1884 in Avalon, Missouri. He attended Drury College in Springfield, Missouri and ...

published ''

Neoblakea ''Neoblakea'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Rubiaceae. It is native to Venezuela and Ecuador. The genus name of ''Neoblakea'' is in honour of Sidney Fay Blake (1892–1959), an American botanist and plant taxonomist, an ...

'', a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

s from South America,belonging to the family

Rubiaceae The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules ...

, with the name honouring Sidney Fay Blake. Then in 2011, botanists E.E.Schill. and Panero published ''

Sidneya ''Sidneya'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Asteraceae. Its native range is southern central USA (in the states of New Mexico and Texas) to Mexico and El Salvador. The genus name of ''Sidneya'' is in honour of Sidney Fay ...

'', which is a genus of

s from Mexico and surrounds belonging to the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae ...

References

20th-century American botanists 1892 births 1959 deaths Harvard University alumni People from Stoughton, Massachusetts {{US-botanist-stub