Background

Nathaniel L. Britton was born on January 15, 1859, in New Dorp, Staten Island, New York, the son of Jasper Alexander Hamilton Britton and Harriet Lord Turner.

Education

Britton was educated at the School of Mines of Columbia College (now Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science), from which he graduated as Engineer of Mines in 1879.

He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the same College in 1881 with the thesis "A Preliminary Catalogue of the Flora of New Jersey".

Career

Nathaniel Britton then became assistant in geology at Columbia and later served as a botanist and assistant geologist for the Geological Survey of New Jersey (now New Jersey Geological and Water Survey) for five years. Although his early training was in geology and mining, botanical interests dominated his career. Thus, in 1887 he returned to Columbia as an instructor in botany and geology, in 1890 became an adjunct professor of botany, and in 1891 was made a professor of botany.

Britton is best known for his role in the establishment and development of the New York Botanical Garden, a process set in motion in 1888, on a visit to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, England, when his wife asked him why there couldn't be such a garden in New York. This question led to the formation of a committee by the Torrey Botanical Club to consider the establishment of a botanical garden in New York City. It appealed for funds in 1889, and in 1891 the New York Legislature chartered the New York Botanical Garden Corporation, which by July 1895 had persuaded the city to set aside 250 acres in Bronx Park for the development of the garden. In 1896 Britton was formally appointed director in chief, and during the next thirty-three years, thanks to his enthusiasm, initiative, drive, and organizing ability, this undeveloped area without buildings or roads became a garden with greenhouses, laboratories, library, and herbarium that make it one of the world’s great botanical institutions.

Britton’s own interests were primarily taxonomic and concerned mainly with the plants of eastern North America and the West Indies. His adherence to the American Code of Nomenclature and his extremely narrow generic concept have made much of the nomenclature of his works obsolete, but their value as comprehensive descriptive surveys remains. Britton founded the Bulletin of the New York Botanical Garden in 1896, the garden’s Journal and Memoirs in 1900, and Addisonia in 1916, as well as the North American Flora in 1905.

Achievements

• Nathaniel Lord Britton became a well-known botanist, taxonomist and author, who played a significant role in the fundraising and creation of the New York Botanical Garden.
  
  The periodical Brittonia (founded in 1931) is named for him.
  
  Also, several genera of plants are named in his honor.
  
  The house he lived and worked in, the Britton Cottage, is preserved at Historic Richmond Town on Staten Island.
  
  The standard author abbreviation Britton is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.

Works

More photos

• book

  • An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions from Newfoundland to the Parallel, Vol. 1 1896
  • An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions from Newfoundland to the Parallel, Vol. 2 1897
  • An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions from Newfoundland to the Parallel, Vol. 3 1898
  • Manual of the Flora of the Northern States and Canada 1901
  • North American Trees 1908
  • Flora of Bermuda 1918
  • The Cactaceae, Vol. 1 1919
  • The Cactaceae, Vol. 2
  • The Cactaceae, Vol. 3
  • The Bahama flora 1920
  • The Cactaceae, Vol. 4 1923

Membership

• In October 1877, Nathaniel L. Britton joined the Torrey Botanical Club (now Torrey Botanical Society), and was a member his entire life.

  Torrey Botanical Society , United States

  1877 - 1934

• Nathaniel Britton was elected to the Washington Biologists’ Field Club in 1904 and was an honorary member from 1905 until his death.

  Washington Biologists’ Field Club (WBFC) , United States

  1904 - 1934

Connections

On August 27, 1885, Nathaniel L. Britton married Elizabeth Gertrude Knight, a bryologist. The couple had no children.

Father:

Jasper Alexander Hamilton Britton

Mother:

Harriet Lord Britton (Turner)

Wife:

Elizabeth Gertrude Britton (Knight)

Elizabeth Gertrude Britton (Knight) was an American botanist, bryologist, and educator, known for her lasting contributions to the study of mosses.

References

• Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Volume II
  1970