Edwin Bingham Copeland (September 30, 1873 – March 16, 1964) was an American botanist and agriculturist. He is known for founding the

University of the Philippines College of Agriculture 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 ...

at Los Baños, Laguna and for being one of the America's leading pteridologists (one who studies ferns).

Life

In 1903, he and his family moved to the Philippines, where he worked as a Systematic Botanist for the Bureau of Science. Wagner, W.H. Jr. 1964
Edwin Bingham Copeland (1873–1964) and his contributions to Pteridology
American Fern Journal 54(4): 177–188. In 1909, he founded the

at Los Baños, Laguna, now part of the University of the Philippines Los Baños, and served as its dean and also as a professor of plant physiology for eight years (1909–1917). In 1917, he returned to the United States and was a leading rice grower in

Chico, California Chico ( ; Spanish for "little") is the most populous city in Butte County, California. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 101,475 in the 2020 census, reflecting an increase from 86,18 ...

. In 1927, he began work as an Associate Curator at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. In 1931, he worked for the

Department of Agriculture of the Philippines The Department of Agriculture (abbreviated as DA; fil, Kagawaran ng Agrikultura) is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for the promotion of agricultural and fisheries development and growth. It has its headquarter ...

, retiring in 1935. After retiring he returned to UC Berkeley and became a permanent Research Associate of the Department of Biology of the University of California. He is best known among American botanists for this latter period at UC. He was elected an Honorary Member of the American Fern Society in 1948. During his career he described 35 new genera and some 600 new species of

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...

s. His personal herbarium totaled approximately 25,000 species and is now at the University of Michigan Herbarium.Collections
, University of Michigan Herbarium. He wrote numerous articles and several books including "Elements of Philippine Agriculture" (1908), "The Coconut" (three editions, 1914, 1921, and 1931), "Rice" (1924), "Fern" (1964) and "Natural Conduct" (1928), a book on practical ethics. In a letter during his final months, a friend C.V. Morton wrote, "You have the consolation of knowing that your name is in constant use by fern students the world over." The fungus genus ''

Copelandia ''Copelandia'' is a now deprecated genus of mushrooms consisting of at least 12 species. Many American mycologists previously placed members of ''Panaeolus'' which stain blue into ''Copelandia'', whilst European mycologists generally used the na ...

'' was named after him. On August 8, 1899, Copeland and partner E. N. Henderson were the first climbers known to reach summit of

Junction Peak Junction Peak is a thirteener in the Sierra Nevada. Joseph Nisbet LeConte chose this name in 1896, noting that it marks the point where the Sierra Crest crosses the water divide of the Kern and Kings rivers. Today it also is the boundary between ...

, a

thirteener In mountaineering in the United States, a thirteener (abbreviated 13er) is a mountain that exceeds above mean sea level, similar to the more familiar "fourteeners," which exceed . In most instances, "thirteeners" refers only to those peaks betwee ...

in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. His father was the zoologist Herbert Edson Copeland (1849–1876) and he was the father of biologist

Herbert Copeland Herbert Faulkner Copeland (May 21, 1902 – October 15, 1968) was an American biologist who contributed to the theory of biological kingdoms. He grouped unicellular organisms into 2 large kingdoms: the Monera kingdom and the Protista kingdom. ...

. He was married to Ethel Faulkner Copeland.

Legacy

The following species of plants are named after him: * ''

Saurauia copelandii ''Saurauia copelandii'' is a species of plant in the Actinidiaceae family. It is native to the Philippines. Adolph Daniel Edward Elmer, the American botanist who first formally described the species, named it in honor of Edwin Copeland, another A ...

'' Elmer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Copeland, Edwin 1873 births 1964 deaths Pteridologists American expatriates in the Philippines Botanists active in the Philippines People from Monroe, Wisconsin American botanists Sierra Club people American mountain climbers Stanford University alumni University of Halle alumni History of the Sierra Nevada (United States) University of the Philippines Los Baños People from Chico, California