IRbofcora 



JOURNAL OF 



THE NEW ENGLAND BOTANICAL CLUB 



Vol. 18. November, 1916. No. 215. 



THE DOCTORS JOHN BRICKELL. 

 B. L. Robinson. 



The writer has recently been working on a revision of Brickcllia, 

 a genus of eupatorioid Compositae, abundant in the western part of 

 our country and in the warmer parts of America, although barely 

 entering the region covered by Gray's Manual. During this task 

 an attempt was made to learn something of the man for whom the 

 group was named. In the original publication, its author, Stephen 

 Elliott, in his Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgia, 

 ii. 290 (1822?), says " I have named it in commemoration of Dr. John 

 Brickell, of Savannah, who at one period of his life paid much atten- 

 tion to the botany of this country, and made known to Dr. Muhlen- 

 berg, Eraser and others, many of its undescribed plants." 



With this excellent start, giving the full name, profession, place of 

 residence, and correspondents of the person in question, it seemed 

 likely that such further facts as the dates of his birth and death, the 

 extent and nature of his publications, etc., could be readily ascertained. 

 However, in the usual sources of such information, the material 

 found was neither extensive nor consistent. 



Wittstein in his Etymologisch-botanisches Handworterbuch, 123 

 (1850) says: "Brickellia Ell. (Compositae). Nach John Brickell; 

 schrieb: The nat. hist, of North Carolina, Dublin 1837." 



Dr. Gray in the Synoptical Elora, i. pt. 2, 103 (1884) cautiously 

 confines his statement regarding the dedication of the genus to the 

 following words: "Dr. John Brickell of Georgia, correspondent of 

 Muhlenberg and Elliott." 



Britten & Boulger in their Biographical Index of British and Irish 



