Wendell Holmes "Red" Camp (February 22, 1904 – February 4, 1963) 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 ...

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

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 ...

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

, and expert of the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Vaccinium ''Vaccinium'' is a common and widespread genus of shrubs or dwarf shrubs in the heath family (Ericaceae). The fruits of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry (wh ...

''.

Career

Camp earned his B.Sc. in geology from

Otterbein College Otterbein University is a private university in Westerville, Ohio, United States. The university was founded in 1847 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and named for United Brethren founder, Philip William Otterbein. It has been as ...

in 1925. He attended a graduate program at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

before switching his focus to botany. He completed his Ph.D. from the university in 1932. In 1936, he was hired by 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, ...

(NYBG) as Assistant Curator. His first assignment was a collection trip to

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

with . Camp's research specialty involved the relationships and evolution of the

Ericaceae The Ericaceae () are a Family (biology), family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with about 4,250 known species spread acros ...

, and he frequently collaborated with

Charles Louis Gilly Charles Louis Gilly (1911–1970) was an American botanist who was an expert in the flora of Central and South America. He, alongside Wendell Holmes Camp, coined the term biosystematics. Gilly was born in Fairfield, Iowa. While employed at Iow ...

. He took leave from the NYBG to assist with the Société Haitiano-Américaine de Développement Agricole in

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

in 1943. After leaving the Société, he spent the rest of the year traveling through

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

in order to purchase loofahs for use as oil filters by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

. He joined the Mision de Cinchona in

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

from 1944 to 1945, working closely with

William Campbell Steere William Campbell Steere (1907–1989) was an American botanist known as an expert on bryophytes, especially arctic and tropical American species. Early life Steere was born November 4, 1907, in Muskegon, Michigan to a family of Irish Quake ...

. After the termination of the program, he was promoted to Associate Curator at the NYBG. Receiving new funding from the Garden, he remained in Ecuador with his assistants to collect plants. He collected 5,828 unique specimens, 3% of which were determined to be new taxa. Camp left the NYBG in 1949 for a position as Curator of Experimental Botany and Horticulture at

Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 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 natur ...

. One of his duties was helping design the Taylor Memorial Arboretum for public visitation. In 1949, he also served as president of the

American Society of Plant Taxonomists The American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT) is a botany, 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 contribut ...

. In 1953, he was hired as chair of the Department of Botany at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

. He remained there until his death from a brain tumor in 1963.

Legacy

The species '' Cavendishia campii'', '' Fuchsia campii'', and '' Themistoclesia campii'' are named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Camp, Wendell Holmes Botanists with author abbreviations 20th-century American botanists 1904 births 1963 deaths Otterbein University alumni Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences alumni