(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 1: Cyclopaedia of collectors)

(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 5: Cyclopaedia of collectors, Supplement I)

Born: 1877, Goodland, S of Chicago, U.S.A. Died: Febr. 4, 1950, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.

career:

Botanist, graduated (Dr’s degree) at Cornell University in 1904; from 1906-11 Botanist of the Bureau of Science, Manila. He began his study of Philippine timbers in 1906; in 1907-08 he was deputed to Singapore and Borneo; 1908-09 collecting in Borneo; in 1911 transferred to Bureau of Forestry, besides Assistant of the Professor of Dendrology at Manila; in 1918 he joined the Forest Department of the Malay Peninsula (F.M.S.) as Research Officer; in 1932 he retired.

Author of many papers relating to forestry and wood-anatomy.¹

Several Malaysian plants were named after him.

Collecting localities:

NW. Borneo, Sarawak (1908): at Lundu (May 10), Niah, Mt Poe (= Poi) (June), Mt Santubong (June), Siol, Kuching, etc.-Br. N. Borneo: Mt Kinabalu (March 1910, summit on the 19th).²-Philippines. Between 1906-17, e.g. in Palawan (May 1906). He paid a short visit to Java, Botanic Garden at Buitenzorg (1915).-Br. N. Borneo (1915 or 1916, with Villamil).-Malay Peninsula, 1918-32.³ 1918. Negri Sembilan: G. Tampin (May 1, summit, with Burkill); NW. Johore: Penyabong (May).-1922. Pahang: Bentong (Dec. 6); Ginting Sempah (Dec.).-1923. Temerloh Distr. (March); Fraser Hill (Aug. 25-Sept. 18), Klang Gates and the Sungei Buloh Forest (Dec.).-1924. Kelantan (Jan. 29-Apr. 7; cf. also sub Moh. Nur).-1931. P. Penang with Symington (Sept.). Many times around Kuala Lumpur and in Perak.

collections:

Herb. Manila [PNH]: 590 Borneo plants (1908/09),⁴ 286 ditto collected with Villamil (see there) (pres. 1916); collections of Philippine plants numbered in the B.S. (cf. Bureau of Science) and in the F.B. (cf. Forestry Bureau) series; large collection of the Malay Peninsula (pres. 1920); U.S. Nat. Herb. Wash. [US]: 640 dupl. P.I.; 92 dupl. Borneo; O. Ames Herb. [GH] (from Sarawak); Herb. Sing. [SING]: Borneo plants (pres. 1908 and 1924); Herb. Kuala Lump. [KEP]: from the Malay Peninsula, numbered in the C.F. series; Herb. Kew [K]: Mal. Penins. (pres. 1920), Sarawak (pres. 1924); also dupl. in Herb. Berl. [B], Bog. [BO], Leiden [L] (P.I.), and Edinburgh [E].

literature:

(1) e.g. ‘Philippine woods’ (Philip. Journ. Sci. C. Bot. 2, 1907, p. 351-404, fig. 1-55); ‘Timbers of British North Borneo and minor forest products and jungle produce’ (Govt Br. N. Borneo Dept of Forestry Bull. no 1, 1916, p. 1-61); ‘Mangrove and Nipah-swamps of British North Borneo’ (with D.M. Matthews in l.c. Bull. no 3, 1917, 22 pp.); ‘Commercial woods and minor forest products’ (in Mal. For. Rec. 1, 2, and 3).

(2) F.W. Foxworthy: ‘A vacation trip to Kinabalu in Br. N. Borneo’ (Sierra Club Bull. 1911, p. 18-34) (non vidi). Extract in Sarawak Mus. Journ. 2, 1915, p. 164-165.

(3) cf. Burkill in Gard. Bull. Str. Settlem. 4, 1927, nos 4-5.

(4) New fern species from Borneo, cf. Philip. Journ. Sci. C. Bot. 3, 1908, p. 343-349.

biographical data:

Backer, Verkl. Woordenb., 1936; Amer. Men of Sci. 1938; Mal. For. 13, 1950, p. 119-121; Madroño 10, 1950, p. 178-179.

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