John McConnell Black
John McConnell Black ( born April 28, 1855 in Wigtown, Scotland, † December 2, 1951 in North Adelaide, South Australia ) was a British- Australian linguist and botanist. His botanical author abbreviation is " JMBlack ".
Early years
John McConnell Black was born in Wigtown in the west of Scotland, the third of four children of banker George Couper Black and his wife Ellen ( née Barham ). His older sister Helen later became the second wife of Richard D' Oyly Carte Theaterimpresarios.
Black attended the " Wigtown Grammer School ", the Edinburgh Academy, the " Taunton College School " as well as a trade school in Dresden.
Professional life
Black worked in the British Linen Bank in Edinburgh and the Oriental Bank in London.
In 1877 he emigrated with his widowed mother a sister and a brother in South Australia. As in Adelaide he could not find work in the banks, he tried in 1878 as a farmer and built in reporting country for " Baroota " wheat to. The trained linguist understood many foreign languages, including Arabic, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish. In 1877 he emigrated to Australia and developed a great interest in the languages of the Aborigines and the flora of the dry land. 1915-1920, he published three papers on the vocabulary of Australian aboriginal languages.
Since the cultivation of grain was found to be uneconomical, Black gave him 1883 on, moved to Adelaide and worked as a journalist in South Australia register. He later became chief reporter and a respected publisher of the Advertiser.
Botany
His late mother in 1903 The legacy of Black financially presented so well that he could give up his job as a journalist and took a trip through South America and Europe. After his return to Australia, he focused on the systematic botany. He was especially interested in the previously received little attention, entrained plants and " weeds " that spread around Australian cities. The legacy of his late sister Helen in 1913 enabled him financially after 1914 the work on the native flora.
John McConnell Black published a number of standard works on systematic botany, which he illustrated himself and in which he described 2,430 different species. He was, though he had never studied biology, 50 years as the best systematic botanist in South Australia. He built up a private herbarium, which he later bequeathed to the University of Adelaide. Even with so taxonomically complex genera such as Eucalyptus, Acacia and Stipa he dealt.
Family life and death
On September 11, 1879 married John McConnell Black Alice Denford, who shared his likes biking and botany. They had one daughter and three sons.
On December 2, 1951 Black died at the age of 96 years at his home in North Adelaide.
Publications (selection)
- The naturalized flora of South Australia, 1909
- The Flora of South Australia, 4 volumes, 1922-1929
- Revised edition of The Flora of South Australia, Volume 1, 1943
- Revised edition of The Flora of South Australia, Volume 2, 1948
- Revised edition of The Flora of South Australia, Volume 3, 1952 ( posthumously )