William Chambers Coker (October 24, 1872 – June 26, 1953) was an American botanist and mycologist.

Biography

He was born at

Hartsville, South Carolina Hartsville is the largest city in Darlington County, South Carolina, United States. It was chartered on December 11, 1891. The population was 7,764 at the 2010 census. Hartsville was chosen as an All-America City in 1996 and again in 2016. Har ...

on October 24, 1872. He graduated from South Carolina College in 1894 and took postgraduate courses at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

and in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He taught for several years in the summer schools of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, at Cold Spring Harbor, L. I., and in 1902 became associate professor of

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 ...

at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

. He established the Coker Arboretum in 1903. He was made

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

in 1907 and Kenan professor of botany in 1920. In 1903, he was chief of the botanic staff of the Bahama Expedition of the Geographical Society of Baltimore. Professor Coker was a member of many scientific societies and the author of ''The Plant Life of Hartsville, S. C.'' (1912); ''The Trees of North Carolina'' (with Henry Roland Totten) (1916); and ''The Saprolegniaceae of the United States'' (1921). Besides these he contributed numerous articles on

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines * Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts * Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...

and botany to scientific journals. He died on June 26, 1953, and was buried on June 29, 1953. He is also honoured in the name of ''

Cokeromyces ''Cokeromyces recurvatus'' is a pathogenic fungus. Described as a new species in 1950, it was isolated from rabbit dung collected in Illinois. The genus name of ''Anzia'' is in honour of William Chambers Coker (1872 – 1953), was an American bot ...

'', which is a pathogenic fungus.

Species described

*'' Lactarius subtorminosus'' Coker (1918) *''

Multifurca furcata ''Multifurca furcata'' is a rare mushroom-forming fungus in the genus ''Multifurca ''Multifurca'' is a rare genus of ectomycorrhizal fungi in the family Russulaceae. It was described in 2008, after molecular phylogenetic study had shown that ...

'' (Coker) Buyck & V. Hofstetter (2008) – as ''Lactarius furcatus'' *

References

American mycologists American science writers 1872 births 1953 deaths American educators Botanical Society of America People from Hartsville, South Carolina University of South Carolina alumni 19th-century American botanists 20th-century American botanists 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers {{US-botanist-stub