Adolph Daniel Edward Elmer (June 14, 1870 – 1942) was an American

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and

plant collector Plant collecting is the acquisition of plant specimens for the purposes of research, cultivation, or as a hobby. Plant specimens may be kept alive, but are more commonly dried and pressed to preserve the quality of the specimen. Plant collecting i ...

.. He was mostly active in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, his collections being described as new species by both himself and other botanists. The Japanese sent him into

Santo Tomas Internment Camp Santo Tomas Internment Camp, also known as the Manila Internment Camp, was the largest of several camps in the Philippines in which the Japanese interned enemy civilians, mostly Americans, in World War II. The campus of the University of Santo To ...

during the Philippines campaign and he died there.

Life and achievements

Elmer was born on June 14, 1870 in

Van Dyne, Wisconsin Van Dyne is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in the town of Friendship, in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. At the 2020 census, its population was 292. The road traveling north-south through the community was ...

, United States,. to Jacob Van Dyne and Alvina Elmer. He was educated at

Washington State College Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant univer ...

in 1899,.. married Emma Osterman in 1902 and earned an A.M. from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1903 (or 1904). Between 1896 and the year of the earning of his A.M., he collected numerous plants in

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

(especially

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

) then began describing new plant species, his name appearing in earlier numbers of (e.g. ''

Festuca idahoensis ''Festuca idahoensis'' is a species of grass known by the common names Idaho fescue and blue bunchgrass. It is native to western North America, where it is widespread and common. It can be found in many ecosystems, from shady forests to open plai ...

'' in 1903). In 1904, he went to the

(an unincorporated territory of the United States at that time), where he consequently made his home through the life. He made extensive

plant collection Plant collecting is the acquisition of plant specimens for the purposes of research, cultivation, or as a hobby. Plant specimens may be kept alive, but are more commonly dried and pressed to preserve the quality of the specimen. Plant collecting i ...

s in the Philippines from 1904 to 1927, and also in

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

. According to Albert William Christian Theodore Herre,

Elmer Drew Merrill Elmer Drew Merrill (October 15, 1876 – February 25, 1956) was an American botanist and taxonomist. He spent more than twenty years in the Philippines where he became a recognized authority on the flora of the Asia-Pacific region. Through t ...

regarded Adolph Daniel Edward Elmer as the best plant collector working in the Philippines and

Southwestern Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...

until the beginning of

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Merrill gave such reputation with a proof, i.e. . He was editor of ', where he published more than 1,500 new

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

Death

Elmer and his wife, Emma, had once planned to leave American-controlled Manila and return to their homeland shortly before the Japanese

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

occurred. The Japanese invasion succeeded it in no time and involved the couple, too. Elmer died on April 17 (or in July), 1942 in the

in the

Manila, Philippines Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...

, of natural causes. His private type collection, held in the Philippine National Herbarium, was destroyed about that time. Emma Osterman Elmer survived internment.

Legacy

Many

are named in honor of Elmer, including ' (syn. ''Adenostylis elmeri'' ), ' (syn. ''B. peltata'' ,

nom. illeg. ''Nomen illegitimum'' (Latin for illegitimate name) is a technical term, used mainly in botany. It is usually abbreviated as ''nom. illeg.'' Although the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants uses Latin terms for other k ...

), ''

Castilleja elmeri ''Castilleja elmeri'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae with the common name Elmer's paintbrush. As with most ''Castilleja'' species, this is a facultative root hemiparasite A parasitic plant is a plant that derives s ...

'' , ' (note that at least all of these four examples are based on Elmer's

type specimens In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...

), and so on. The

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

'' Adelmeria'' (Zingiberaceae), '' Elmera'' (Saxifragaceae), ''

Elmerinula ''Elmerinula'' is a fungus genus in the class Dothideomycetes. The relationship of this taxon to other taxa within the class is unknown (''incertae sedis''). A monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contain ...

'' (Dothideomycetes), and ''Elmerobryum'' (Hypnaceae) are also named after him.

Explanatory notes

Citations

General bibliography

* * * * - its supplemented version
ElmerADE
is available on the website of the

National Herbarium of the Netherlands National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

. Accessed: 21 May 2021. *

External links

Details - Leaflets of Philippine botany
Archived by

Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest open access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives. BHL operates as worldwide consortiumof natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working toge ...

, accessed: 21 May 2021. {{DEFAULTSORT:Elmer, Adolph Daniel Edward 1870 births 1942 deaths American botanists People from Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin Stanford University alumni Washington State University alumni American people who died in Japanese internment camps