Benjamin Smith Barton
Benjamin Smith Barton ( born February 10, 1766 Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA, † December 19, 1815 in New York, NY) was an American botanist. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Barton ".
Life and work
First, he went to Philadelphia to school, but moved in 1786 to study medicine in Edinburgh and London. In 1789 he returned to teach at the University of Pennsylvania as a professor of natural history and medicine. In the following years he wrote the first published in North America textbook on botany, Elements of Botany, published in 1804. His other publications illustrate his widely varied range of interests. There you will find discussions of the rattlesnake, about the origin of Native Americans and several medical works.
In addition, Barton supported the significant Lewis and Clark expedition, which set out in 1804 to explore the western North America. Although Barton did not even participate in the expedition, but made their participants in collecting, documenting, and taxonomically correct naming of artefacts. After the return of researchers Barton 1806 began with the evaluation of the samples, but died suddenly in 1815 before he could complete his work.
Ehrentaxon
According to him, the plant genus Bartonia Muhl. ex Willd. been named from the family of Gentian Family ( Gentianaceae ).
Works
- Fragments of the natural history of Pennsylvania. In 1799.
- Elements of botany .... 1804, 2nd edition 1812-1814, third edition 1827.