Edward Tuckerman (December 7, 1817 in Boston, Massachusetts – March 15, 1886) 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

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

who made significant contributions to the study of

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

. He did the majority of his collecting on the slopes of

Mount Washington Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934, ...

in the White Mountains of

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

Tuckerman Ravine Tuckerman Ravine is a glacial cirque sloping eastward on the southeast face of Mt. Washington, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Although it draws hikers throughout the year, and skiers throughout the winter, it is best known for the ma ...

was named in his honor. The standard botanical author abbreviation Tuck. is applied to

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

he described.

Early life and education

Tuckerman was the eldest son of a Boston merchant, also Edward Tuckerman, and Sophia (May) Tuckerman. He studied at

Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a public exam school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established on April 23, 1635, making it both the oldest public school in the British America and the oldest existing school in the United States. Its curriculum f ...

and then at his father's urging at

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

, which he entered as a sophomore and where he completed a BA in 1837 and to which he returned for his MA after taking a law degree at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1839, traveling in Germany and Scandinavia, and making the first of his botanical studies in the White Mountains. In 1846, he returned to Harvard as a senior (telling the President he intended to correct his father's error in breaking the family tradition), completed a second BA in 1847, then two or three years later entered the

Divinity School A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

and graduated from there in 1852. His brother was Frederick Goddard Tuckerman (1821–1873), the American poet and his first cousin was

Henry Theodore Tuckerman Henry Theodore Tuckerman (April 20, 1813 – December 17, 1871) was an American writer, essayist and critic. Early life Henry Theodore Tuckerman was born on April 20, 1813, in Boston, Massachusetts. His first cousins included Edward Tuckerman ( ...

(1813–1871), an American writer, essayist and critic.

Career

When Lewis and Clark went on their 1804-1806 expedition across the western United States, they collected many plant, seed, and flower species that had never been seen before. Lewis wrote notes about these species and they were put on scrap book paper. After Lewis supposedly committed suicide in 1809, dozens of his scrapbook pages were stolen by a botanist who was supposed to draw and classify the plants collected on the expedition. He took the papers to England to sell for money at an auction in 1842. Tuckerman noticed the auction and the significance of these papers. He bought them and then donated them to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. After teaching at Union College, Tuckerman was a professor at

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

from 1854 until his death, successively Lecturer in History, Professor of Oriental History, and from 1858 Professor of Botany.Joseph Ewan, "Frederick Pursh, 1774-1820, and his Botanical Associates," ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'' vol. 96 no. 5 (1952) pp. 599-628
p. 625
Amherst awarded him an LLD.Gray, p. 492. He was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

in 1855. His first paper, on New England lichens, was given in 1838 or 1839. In 1843, he published privately the first serious systematic analysis of the genus ''

Carex ''Carex'' is a vast genus of more than 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of genus ''Carex'' ...

'', ''Enumeratio Methodica Caricum Quarundam.'' Tuckerman liked to write his botanical studies in Latin.Gray, p. 493. He also made the first systematic study of native ''

Potamogeton ''Potamogeton'' is a genus of aquatic, mostly freshwater, plants of the family Potamogetonaceae. Most are known by the common name pondweed, although many unrelated plants may be called pondweed, such as Canadian pondweed (''Elodea canadensis'' ...

'', and after becoming Professor of Botany at Amherst, began preparing ''A Catalogue of Plants Growing without cultivation within 30 miles of Amherst College'' (published in 1875). However, his main focus was lichens. He published a number of important studies in the field, drawing on both his own collecting and specimens sent to him from elsewhere, in particular by Charles Wright from Cuba. His career culminated in the publication o
''Genera Lichenum: An Arrangement of the North American Lichens''
(1872) an
''Synopsis of the North American Lichens'', Part 1
(1882). His last botanical publication was in 1884, and he may have published anonymous theological articles after that. Tuckerman did not accept that lichens are a combination of fungi and algae, a theory advanced late in his life.

Honours

He was honoured in the naming of several plant taxa including; ''Tuckermania'' (family

Ericaceae The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c.4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it th ...

) now a synonym of ''

Corema ''Corema'' is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. They are dioecious small shrubs. Species * ''Corema album'' (L.) D. Don ex Steud. ''Corema album'' is also known for it common name ''Camarinha'' or Portuguese cr ...

''. and ''Tuckermannia'' (

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

family) now a synonym of ''

Coreopsis ''Coreopsis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Common names include calliopsis and tickseed, a name shared with various other plants. Description These plants range from in height. The flowers are usually yellow wi ...

''. In 1933 Hungarian lichenologist Vilmos Kőfaragó-Gyelnik

circumscribed In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius. Not every polyg ...

the lichen genus of '' Tuckermannopsis''. '' Tuckneraria'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi, which was published by Randlane & A.Thell in 1994. Lastly, Esslinger in 2003 published '' Tuckermanella'', a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family

Parmeliaceae The Parmeliaceae is a large and diverse family of Lecanoromycetes. With over 2700 species in 71 genera, it is the largest family of lichen-forming fungi. The most speciose genera in the family are the well-known groups: '' Xanthoparmelia'' ( 822 ...

Personal life

Tuckerman was married to Sarah, daughter of Thomas Parkman Cushing, who was his father's business partner.Daria D’Arienzo and Margaret R. Dakin
"An Even Better Home at Amherst,"
''Amherst Magazine'', Amherst College, Spring 2007. Accessed March 20, 2010.Ezra Scollay Stearns, ''History of Ashburnham, Massachusetts, from the Grant of Dorchester Canada to the Present Time, 1774-1836'', Ashburnham: 1887
p. 663
They had no children. Tuckerman died on March 15, 1886.

References

External links