Jan., 1901] Armstrong — Ohio Botanists. 33 



PLANT NAMES COMMEMORATIVE OF OHIO BOTANISTS. 



Clara Armstrong. 



Though Ohio has had fewer botanists than many other States, 

 some of these became known wherever botany was cultivated. 

 Riddell was one of the pioneer botanists of the west and for six years 

 he was a resident of this State. By the publication of his Synopsis 

 he contributed largely to Ohio Botany. The names of Sullivant and 

 Lesquereux shed still greater luster on our state. Most of the work 

 of the former and all of that of the latter was done in Ohio. Several 

 others whose names are given below have been industrious students 

 of our Flora, and have spent many years if not all their lives within 

 our territory. It is a long and interesting list of botanical names 

 which commemorates their scientific labors. In the preparation of 

 this paper I have been aided materially by Prof. W. A. Kellerman. 

 John Leonard Riddell. — Born in Lej^den, Mass., Feb. 20th, 1807; 

 died in New Orleans, La., Oct. 7, 1863. He graduated from Rensseler 

 Institute, Troy, N. Y. He came to Ohio in 1830 and became professor 

 of Botany and adjunct Professor of Chemistry in the Medical College 

 of Cincinnati. He was an enthusiastic and industrious botanist, and 

 collected extensively in many parts of our State. Scarcely any of 

 his specimens seem now to be in existance though he prepared sets 

 for sale and accumulated a large herbarium. His most important 

 publication was the Synopsis of the Flora of the Western States. 

 He also published a Supplementary Catalogue of Ohio Plants. In 

 1836 he left Ohio, carrying his botanical specimens to New Orleans 

 where he became professor in a Medical College; he was also in the 

 employ of the government until his death. He furnished many notes 

 and longer articles to scientific journals and was the author of many 

 new species of plants. The following have been named in his honor: 



Riddellia, synonym of Psilostrophe, a genus of the Compositae 

 family. 



Solidago Riddellii, a species of Golden Rod. 



Senecio Riddellii, synonym of S. Douglasii, a species of Com- 

 positae. 



William Starling Sullivant. — Born in Franklinton, Ohio, 

 Jan. 18, 1808, died in Columbus, Ohio, April 30, 1873. He was educated 

 at Ohio Univei-sity and Yale. The death of his father at the 

 time of his graduation prevented him from studying for one of the 

 learned professions and he became a surveyor and practical engineer, 

 which occupation he followed until late in life. During this time he 

 collected and studied tlie plants of central Oiiio, and in 1840 he began 



