Eugene Pintard Bicknell (September 23, 1859 – February 9, 1925) was an American

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

Early life

Bicknell was born at Riverdale-on-Hudson, the sixth son of Maria Theresa ( Pierrepont) and Joseph Inglis Bicknell. The family was descended on the paternal side from settlers who moved from England in 1635 and on the maternal side from Sir Robert de Pierrepont who served

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

before settling in America in 1640. His maternal grandfather was Hezekiah Pierrepont, a prominent merchant and land developer in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. Another relative, Reverend James Pierrepont of

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

had donated his books to form the nucleus of the Yale College Library, which had been founded by Bicknell's direct ancestor, the Rev. James Pierpont.

Career

Bicknell studied at home and worked with the banking firm John Munroe & Co. and Monroe & Co. of Paris. He was interested in natural history from an early age. He wrote an article on the birds of the Hudson Valley in 1878 and in 1882 he wrote about the birds of the Catskill mountains in the bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. He collected a specimen of a thrush that was described by Ridgway and named as Bicknell's Thrush. He served as a secretary to the

American Ornithologists' Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

upon its founding and was a member of 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 ...

, 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, ...

and other societies. He published more on plants and discovered several new species. Some of the species were found right in New York and local observers had never noticed the fine differences that Bicknell noted. He noted that there were two species of ''Helianthemum'' with a difference that had not been noticed before. This was followed by more species in the genera ''Sanicula'', ''Sisyrinchium'', ''Scrophularia'', and ''Agrimonia''. Bicknell's works include ''Review of the Summer Birds of Part of the Catskill Mountains'' (1882) and ''The Ferns and Flowering Plants of Nantucket'' (1908–19).

Personal life

In 1901, Bicknell married Edith Babcock at Riverdale. She was a daughter of Charles Henry Phelps Babcock and Cornelia Fulton ( Franklin) Babcock. Together, they had two daughters and moved to

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

. He died at his home in Hewlett on Long Island on February 9, 1925. His plant collections were gifted by his wife to the New York Botanical Garden.

Named in Bicknell's honor

He is commemorated in the names of a number of plants and animals;

Plants

According to

International Plant Names Index The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) describes itself as "a database of the names and associated basic bibliographical details of seed plants, ferns and lycophytes." Coverage of plant names is best at the rank of species and genus. It inclu ...

, () there are at least 7 plants are named in honour of Eugene Pintard Bicknell (as ''bicknellii'' ) *'' Carex bicknellii'' *'' Crataegus bicknellii'' *'' Crocanthemum bicknellii'' *'' Geranium bicknellii'' , ''Bicknell's cranesbill'' *'' Panicum bicknellii''

Animals

*''Catharus bicknelli''

Bicknell's thrush Bicknell's thrush (''Catharus bicknelli'') is a medium-sized thrush, at and . One of North America's rarest and most localized songbirds, it breeds on coniferous mountain tops and disturbed habitats of northeastern North America. While very simi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bicknell, Eugene Pintard American botanists 1859 births 1925 deaths American ornithologists