THE BRYOLOGIST. 
Vol. IX. January, 1906 . No. 1 . 
EDWARD TUCKERMAN-A BRIEF SUMMARY OF HIS WORK. 
Bruce Fink. 
In a paper entitled “Two Centuries of North American Lichenology,” 
the present writer has called the time from 1847 to 1888 “ The Tuckermanian 
Period.” During this time everything in American lichenology was colored 
by the views of Tuckerman. Indeed Tuckerman stands out so pre-emin- 
ently as an American lichenist that something of his history is a proper part 
of the history of American lichenology. Born in 1817, he obtained his bache- 
lor’s degree in 1837, and two years later finished the law course at Harvard. 
In 1841 and 1842 he traveled in Europe and met the great lichenist, Elias 
Fries, at Upsala. Returning to this country, he accompanied Asa Gray to 
the White Mountains and began the difficult exploration which has rarely 
been excelled for completeness. That he began his botanical studies in early 
life and devoted himself chiefly to lichens from the first appears from the 
fact that his first “ Enumeration of Some Lichenes of New England” was 
published when he was not more than twenty-two years old, and appears to 
have been read the year before. Excepting Halsey’s “ Synoptic View ” this 
was the first work by an American, entirely devoted to lichens. 
Tuckerman’ s writings, even from the first, contained careful notes which 
•show that he was possessed of a genuine love of botany and a marked 
adaptability for the work. Thus his meeting with Fries was not merely an 
incident of his first European trip, and his visits and excursions with this 
greatest lichenist of his time must have been a great inspiration in those 
days when botanists were few in number. Indeed, we can hardly estimate 
the value of this visit to American lichenology. In 1847, nearly ten years 
after Tuckerman began his work on lichens, appeared his “Synopsis of the 
Lichenes of New England, and other Northern States and British America.” 
This work was the first to give descriptions and a classification of our 
lichens, and though it contained but two hundred and ninety-five species, 
with twenty new, it was of great importance as it formed a basis from which 
others could work. At the same time Tuckerman began to issue his “Lich- 
enes Americae Septentrionalis Exsiccatae,” the first issue of American speci- 
mens giving authentic plants with which collectors could compare their' 
lichens. 
Tuckerman was more than a lichenist as his knowledge of the general 
botany of his day was quite comprehensive, while he was a widely read and 
scholarly man. His professorship in botany at Amherst began in 1858 and 
continued till his death, twenty-eight years later. But we must confine our 
attention to his work upon the lichens. In this field his activity continued to 
the time of his death, and collections were determined by him, not only 
from all portions of the Western Hemisphere, but also from the Eastern 
Hemisphere and from the islands of the sea. How much labor and self- 
The November Bryologist was issued November 1st, 1905. 
