Harry Norton Patterson (February 15, 1853 – May 22, 1919) was an American printer and

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 ...

. Patterson was born on February 15, 1853. His father was Edwin H. N. "Sniktau" Patterson, the namesake of Mount Sniktau. He started his career as an apprentice to his grandfather, the publisher of the ''Oquawka Spectator'' newspaper. At the age of 19, he published his first botanical paper, which was a catalog of plants collected around his hometown of Oquawka, Illinois. Merritt Lyndon Fernald remarked on the thoroughness of this text. He began to study the flora of Colorado sporadically between 1880 and 1895, with his early trips focused on the Gore Range. In 1884, Patterson took control of the ''Spectator''. He often collaborated with botanists such as

Michael Schuck Bebb Michael Schuck Bebb (December 23, 1833 – December 5, 1895) was an amateur systematic botanist in the 19th century with a reputation as the leading salicologist in both America and Europe. His extensive work on the genus ''Salix'' led to several ...

Cyrus Pringle Cyrus Guernsey Pringle (May 6, 1838 – May 25, 1911) was an American botanist who spent a career of 35 years cataloguing the plants of North America. He was a prolific collector and accomplished botanical explorer. Early life He was born on May ...

, Edward Lee Greene,

William Marriott Canby William Marriott Canby Sr. (1831–1904) was an American banker, business executive, philanthropist and botanist. He is famous as a leading expert on the flora of Delaware and the "eastern shore" region of Maryland and as an epistolary corresponde ...

, and

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually excl ...

, and exchanged printed floras with his contemporaries. He also published works by other botanists, including John Donnell Smith's catalog of Guatemalan plants. His wife Florence Beaty also collected botanical specimens.

Legacy

Stylisma pickeringii var. pattersonii ''Stylisma pickeringii'', commonly called Pickering's dawnflower, is a species of flowering plant in the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae). It is native to the United States, where it patchily distributed across central and eastern regions. I ...

'', known as Patterson's bindweed, is named for Patterson. ''

Artemesia pattersonii Artemesia may refer to: * Artemisia I of Caria, a female general of the Persian King Xerxes * ''Artemesia'' (crustacean), a genus of prawns in the family Penaeidae * Artemesia Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, United States * Lake Artemesia, a ma ...

'', ''

Astragalus pattersonii ''Astragalus'' is a large genus of over 3,000 species of herbs and small shrubs, belonging to the legume family Fabaceae and the subfamily Faboideae. It is the largest genus of plants in terms of described species. The genus is native to tempe ...

'', ''

Cryptantha pattersonii ''Cryptantha'' is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae. They are known commonly as cat's eyes and popcorn flowers (the latter name is also used to refer to the closely related genus ''Plagiobothrys'',Hasenstab-Lehman, ...

'', and ''

Machaeranthera pattersonii ''Dieteria bigelovii'', also known as Bigelow's tansyaster or sticky aster, is a North American species of plants in the family Asteraceae. Description ''D. bigelovii'' is a biennial or perennial herb growing to in height. The leaves are lon ...

'' were named for Patterson by Asa Gray. ''

Poa pattersonii ''Poa'' is a genus of about 570 species of grasses, native to the temperate regions of both hemispheres. Common names include meadow-grass (mainly in Europe and Asia), bluegrass (mainly in North America), tussock (some New Zealand species), a ...

'' was named for him by George Vasey. His personal herbarium is now housed at the

Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, Harry Norton 1853 births 1919 deaths 19th-century American botanists Scientists from Illinois