William Houstoun (botanist)
William Houstoun, and William Houston (* 1695oder 1703 or 1704 in Scotland; † August 14, 1733 in Jamaica ) was a British physician and botanist. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Houst. ".
Life
William Houstoun already traveled as a ship's doctor in the West Indies before studying medicine at Herman Boerhaave in Leiden began in 1727. He made there in 1729 his degree.
He had his residence probably in a settlement on Jamaica Bay Campeachy. From there he traveled to Jamaica, Havana, Cuba, Venezuela and Veracruz. From his travels he sent seeds to Philip Miller in Chelsea, the Chelsea Physic Garden teased it in plants and this also herbarisierte.
On January 18, 1733 Houstoun was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, but died from the effects of climate on Jamaica a short time later. In the same year appeared in the Philosophical Transactions his first description of the plant species Dorstenia contrajerva L.
His herbarium, his drawings and manuscripts he left Philip Miller. Sir Joseph Banks acquired the material later by Miller and published it in 1781 under the title Reliquiae Houstounianae. In the scheme of Joseph Pitton de Tournefort were in 15 genera and 11 species, all from Vera Cruz, described for the first time.
Ehrentaxon
January Frederik Gronovius named in his honor, the genus of the plant family Rubiaceae Houstonia ( Rubiaceae ). Linnaeus later took the name.
Writings
- An account of the Contrayerva. In: Philosophical Transactions. Volume 37, No. 421, 1733, pp. 195-198.
- Experimenta de Perforatione thoracis, ejusque in Respiratione Effectibus ( engl: Six experiments to show the effects of the perforation of the thorax on respiration ). In: Philosophical Transactions. Volume 39, No. 441, 1738, p 230
- Reliquiae Houstounianae seu plantarum in America meridional .... London 1781 (online) - published posthumously by Joseph Banks