Frederick Vernon Coville (March 23, 1867 – January 9, 1937) was an American botanist who participated in the Death Valley Expedition (1890-1891), was honorary curator of the

United States National Herbarium The United States National Herbarium is a collection of five million preserved plant specimens housed in the Department of Botany at the National Museum of Natural History, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution. It represents about 8% of the ...

(1893-1937), worked at then was Chief botanist of the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

(USDA), and was the first director of the

United States National Arboretum The United States National Arboretum is an arboretum in northeast Washington, D.C., operated by the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. It was established in 1927 by an act of Congress after a campaign by USDA ...

. He made contribution to economic botany and helped shape American scientific policy of the time on plant and exploration research.

Biography

Coville was born in 1867 in Preston, New York to bank director Joseph Addison Coville and his wife Lydia. He went to

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1887. He briefly taught

botany 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 w ...

before joining the USDA and participating to the

Geological Survey A geological survey is the systematic investigation of the geology beneath a given piece of ground for the purpose of creating a geological map or model. Geological surveying employs techniques from the traditional walk-over survey, studying outc ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

as assistant botanist in 1888. He would remain with the department until his death, succeeding to George Vasey as Chief botanist in 1893, a title accompanied with that of Honorary Curator of the National Herbarium (at the time conserved at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, but funded by the USDA). Coville married his wife, Elizabeth Harwood Boyton, in 1890; they had five children, four of whom, three sons and a daughter, survived their father. Over the course of his life, he published approximately 170 papers and books; he also contributed to botany entries of the

Century Dictionary ''The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia'' is one of the largest encyclopedic dictionaries of the English language. In its day it was compared favorably with the ''Oxford English Dictionary,'' and frequently consulted for more factual informati ...

. A tall man who had enjoyed success in college sports, he was described as helpful, perceptive, clear-thinking and curious, as well as greatly enthusiastic in his outdoor expeditions. Coville participated in the 1891 Death Valley Expedition led by

C. Hart Merriam Clinton Hart Merriam (December 5, 1855 – March 19, 1942) was an American zoologist, mammalogist, ornithologist, entomologist, ecologist, ethnographer, geographer, naturalist and physician. He was commonly known as the 'father of mammalogy', a ...

and T. S. Palmer, his resultin
''Botany of the Death Valley Expedition''
(1893) is an important work on

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

plants. He traveled a lot in the Western United States and grew an interest for desert and medicinal plants, leading to his 1897-1898 Medicinal Plants Survey.

Gifford Pinchot Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865October 4, 1946) was an American forester and politician. He served as the fourth chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, as the first head of the United States Forest Service, and as the 28th governor of Pennsy ...

called a report of Coville's on effects of

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...

on forest "the essentials of a sound and farsighted grazing policy". Coville also participated in and wrote on the 1899 Harriman Alaska Expedition, although he never completed his ''Flora of Alaska''. He was involved with the establishment of the

Carnegie Institution The Carnegie Institution of Washington (the organization's legal name), known also for public purposes as the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS), is an organization in the United States established to fund and perform scientific research. T ...

's Desert Botanical Laboratory in 1903, the USDA Seed Laboratory, and spearheaded efforts that lead to the foundation of the

in 1927.

Coville was considered the American authority on

Juncaceae Juncaceae is a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the rush family. It consists of 8 genera and about 464 known species of slow-growing, rhizomatous, herbaceous monocotyledonous plants that may superficially resemble grasses and s ...

and

Grossulariaceae ''Ribes'' is a genus of about 200 known species of flowering plants, most of them native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The various species are known as currants or gooseberries, and some are cultivated for their edible ...

. After 1910 he began to work on

blueberry Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' within the genus ''Vaccinium''. ''Vaccinium'' also includes cranberries, bi ...

, and was the first to discover the importance of

soil acidity Soil pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity (alkalinity) of a soil. Soil pH is a key characteristic that can be used to make informative analysis both qualitative and quantitatively regarding soil characteristics. pH is defined as the neg ...

(blueberries need highly acidic soil), that blueberries do not self-pollinate, and the effects of cold on blueberries and other plant. In 1911, he began a program of research in conjunction with Elizabeth White, daughter of the owner of the extensive cranberry bogs at Whitesbog in the

New Jersey Pine Barrens The New Jersey Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands or simply the Pines, is the largest remaining example of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecosystem, stretching across more than seven counties of New Jersey. Two other large, contiguou ...

. His work doubled the size of some strains' fruit, and by 1916, he had succeeded in cultivating blueberries, making them a valuable crop in the Northeastern United States. For this work he received the George Roberts White Medal of Honor from the

Massachusetts Horticultural Society The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, sometimes abbreviated to MassHort, is an American horticultural society based in Massachusetts. It describes itself as the oldest formally organized horticultural institution in the United States. In its m ...

. In 1919, Coville played an instrumental role in drawing attention to the threatened state of the only known box huckleberry colony, sparking a revival of interest that led to the discovery of many new specimens of the plant. From 1920 to his death, he was chairman of the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...

' Research Committee and was very influential in deciding areas of exploration. At the time of his death he was working on a revision of ''Botany of the Death Valley Expedition'' as a flora of the Valley. Coville's papers are split between several archives. Many (including his revision notes for ''Botany of the Death Valley Expedition'') are kept at the Smithsonian Institution, Others at the National Arboretum. His personal library is now part of the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

's special collections library, while his Death Valley Expedition field diary is kept at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

. Amongst several plants named after him are '' Eriogonum covilleanum'', ''Amelanchier covillei'', '' Cheilanthes covillei'', '' Sidalcea covillei'', '' Enceliopsis covillei'', '' Juncus covillei'' and '' Lupinus covillei''. A genus ''Covillea'' was also named after him, but is now considered a synonym of ''

Larrea ''Larrea'' is a genus of flowering plants in the caltrop family, Zygophyllaceae. It contains five species of evergreen shrubs that are native to the Americas. The generic name honours Bishop Juan Antonio Hernández Pérez de Larrea, a patron of ...

''.

Publications

Notes

References

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coville, Frederick Vernon American taxonomists Economic botanists 1867 births 1937 deaths United States Department of Agriculture people Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni Cornell University faculty People from Chenango County, New York Scientists from New York (state) 19th-century American botanists 20th-century American botanists