84 

 Nathaniel Lord Britton 



Dr. Nathaniel Lord Britton, oldest member of the Torrey 

 Botanical Club, died on June 25th at his home in New York 

 City. Dr. Britton joined the Club in 1877 while a student at the 

 Columbia School of Mines. From 1889 till 1898 he was Editor 

 in Chief of the Club's publications. His active interest in the 

 Club continued to the last, probably no one else doing so much 

 to shape its policies and direct its activities. 



Dr. Britton was born in New Dorp, Staten Island, on Janu- 

 ary 15, 1859. He graduated from the School of Mines in 1879, 

 took his doctorate the same year and was at once appointed to 

 the faculty as an assistant in geology. In 1886 he became in- 

 structor in geology and botany and in 1891 assistant professor. 

 He was president of the Botanical Society of America in 1896, 

 1897 and 1921. 



He was a leader in the group of scientists instrumental in or- 

 ganizing the New York Botanical Garden. He became director 

 of the Garden in 1896 and directed the erection of the buildings 

 and the laying out of grounds. In 1927 he resigned as director 

 but continued his botanical research there till illness compelled 

 him to relinquish it last December. Dr. Britton's aim as direc- 

 tor of the garden was first to establish and collect the plants 

 native to New York State and then to gather plants from other 

 regions for the education of the public. The famous hemlock 

 grove on the Bronx River, a growth never cut and the most 

 southerly stand of the species near the coast, formed the nucleus 

 for the first half of the work and specimens which Dr. Britton 

 himself brought back from Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the 

 Bahamas and other West Indian Islands aided in the other part 

 of the work. 



Under Dr. Britton's guidance the Garden became outstand- 

 ing among botanical institutions of the world for its herbarium 

 of North American, and West Indian plants and for its living 

 collections of palms and cacti. 



His best known work is probably the "Illustrated Fl^ra of 

 the Northern United States and Canada." He also wrote a 

 "Manual of the Flora of the Northern United States and 

 Canada," "Flora of Bermuda," "The Bahama Flora," numer- 

 ous botanical papers and, with J. N. Rose, a four volume mono- 

 graph of the cacti which is the leading reference work on the 

 subject. 



