Per Axel Rydberg (July 6, 1860 – July 25, 1931) was a Swedish-born, 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 ...

who was the first curator of the

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

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Biography

Per Axel Rydberg was born in Odh,

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Väs ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1882. From 1884 to 1890, he taught mathematics at Luther Academy in

Wahoo, Nebraska Wahoo (; from Dakota ; " arrow wood") is a city and county seat of Saunders County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 4,508 at the 2010 census. History Wahoo was founded in 1870. The town's name comes from the eastern wahoo ('' Euo ...

, while he studied at the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

. He graduated from the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a public land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the Morrill Act of 1862, the school was known as the Universit ...

(B.S. in 1891) and (M.A. in 1895). He earned his graduate degree from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

(Ph.D. in 1898). After he graduated, Rydberg received a commission from 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, ...

to undertake a botanical exploration of western Nebraska. He received another one in 1892 to explore the Black Hills of South Dakota, and in 1893 he was in the Sand Hills, again in western Nebraska. During this time he continued to teach at the Luther Academy. In 1900 Rydberg conducted field work in southeast Colorado. In 1901 he visited

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

in England and made a return trip to Sweden as well. In 1905 he was collecting in Utah with visits to 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 ...

, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. In 1911 he undertook an exploration of southeast Utah and in 1925, the

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...

. A trip in 1926 took him to Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and the Dakotas. His final field expedition was in 1929 to Kansas and Minnesota but it was cut short due to illness and only included work in Kansas. He was a prolific research publisher, he described around 1700 new species in the course of his career. His expertise was principally in the flora of the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

and

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. From 1899, Rydberg was on the staff of the

, and he later became the first curator of the Garden's

.Rydberg, P.A. 1895. ''Flora of the sand hills of Nebraska''. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 3:133-203. Dr. Rydberg was elected to membership in the

Torrey Botanical Club Torrey Botanical Society (formerly Torrey Botanical Club) was started in the 1860s by colleagues of John Torrey. It is the oldest botanical society in the Americas. The Society promotes the exploration and study of plant life, with particular ...

in 1896. In 1900 he joined the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

and was elected a fellow the following year. Also that year, he was chosen as an Associate of the

Botanical Society of America The Botanical Society of America (BSA) represents professional and amateur botanists, researchers, educators and students in over 80 countries of the world. It functions as a United States nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership society. History The soci ...

. In 1907 he became a member of the

American Geographical Society The American Geographical Society (AGS) is an organization of professional geographers, founded in 1851 in New York City. Most fellows of the society are Americans, but among them have always been a significant number of fellows from around the ...

and the

Ecological Society of America The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States and founded in 1915, ESA publications include peer-reviewed journals, newsletters, fact sheets, and teaching resources. I ...

Personal life

Rydberg married his wife Alfrida Amanda (1878-1933). Rydberg died during 1931 in

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. He was buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery.

Selected works

*1895: ''Flora Of The Sand Hills Of Nebraska'' *1897: ''A Report Upon the Grasses and Forage Plants of the Rocky Mountain Region'' with C. L. Shear *1898
''A Monograph of the North American Potentilleae''
*1900
''Catalogue of the Flora of Montana and the Yellowstone National Park''
*1906
''Flora of Colorado''
*1917
''Flora of the Rocky Mountains and adjacent plains, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and neighboring parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, and British Columbia''
*1922
''Flora of the Rocky Mountains and adjacent plains, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and neighboring parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and British Columbia''
*1918: ''Monograph on Rosa'' *1923
''Flora of the Black Hills of South Dakota''
*1923: ''Memories from the Department of Botany of Columbia University'' *1932: ''Flora of the Prairies and Plains of Central North America'' with M. A. Howe

Other works

*1901
''Contributions to the botany of the Yukon Territory, (with Nathaniel Lord Britton, Marshall A. Howe, Lucien Marcus Underwood, and R. S. Williams)''
*1903
''Flora of the southeastern United States;being descriptions of the seed-plants, ferns and fern-allies growing naturally in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and the Indian territory and in Oklahoma and Texas east of the one-hundredth meridian,(with John Kunkel Small)''
*1919
''Key to the Rocky Mountain flora; Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and British Columbia.''
*1899-1913
''Studies on Rocky Mountain flora.''
(Series: Contributions from the New York Botanical Garden)

References

Other sources

*Tiehm, Arnold; Frans Antonie Stafleu (1990) ''Per Axel Rydberg : a biography, bibliography, and list of his taxa'' (Bronx, N.Y.: New York Botanical Garden)

External links

*
Brief biography
on the website of

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glasgow, Elizabethtow ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rydberg, Per Axel 1860 births 1931 deaths University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni Columbia University alumni American botanists Botanists with author abbreviations Swedish emigrants to the United States People from Västergötland Torrey Botanical Society members