Cyrus Pringle
Cyrus Guernsey Pringle | |
---|---|
Born | Charlotte, Vermont, United States | May 6, 1838
Died | May 25, 1911 | (aged 73)
Resting place | Morningside Cemetery, East Charlotte, Vermont, United States |
Other names | Cyrus Guernsey Prindle |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Botany |
Institutions | American Museum of Natural History United States Census Bureau Smithsonian Institution |
Author abbrev. (botany) | Pringle |
Signature | |
Cyrus Guernsey Pringle (May 6, 1838 – May 25, 1911) was an American
Early life
He was born on May 6, 1838, in
In the early part of his life he was interested in the
His first
Pringle grew and sold seedlings of Gladiolus, wheat, more than 100 varieties of irises, and nearly all the species of lilies known at the time. His Hubbard squash seeds brought a dollar a pound at one time. He also ran a "hospital" for bulbs, to which people would send their sick specimens for rehabilitation.[2]
Civil War
During the
When Secretary of War Edwin Stanton heard of this treatment, he ordered "the three incorrigibles" be sent to Washington, D.C. Isaac Newton, Commissioner of Agriculture, went to President Abraham Lincoln about their case, who subsequently asked the Secretary to release them. Stanton refused, claiming that his oath of office stood in the way of discharging them from military service. It was only after President Lincoln had gone personally to Stanton that the parole was granted.[2][3]
Career
Pringle once again turned his energies to plant breeding in 1868, attempting to hybridize new varieties of various fruits, corn, tomatoes, and grains such as wheat and oats.[2] In 1872, Pringle's wife separated from him to pursue evangelistic work and they divorced on October 16, 1877.[2]
Sometime in the 1870s, Pringle began to collect plants throughout Vermont, from deep in mossy woods, by lakesides, or high on mountain summits. On December 13, 1874, he was appointed to the Vermont Board of Agriculture. During three successive years he took boat trips up the lower
In 1880 he received three commissions: collecting wood samples for the Jesup Collection, under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History; exploring American forests and collecting data for a final report for the United States Census Bureau, working for Charles Sprague Sargent; and general botanical collecting on behalf of Asa Gray.[2][5] In 1884, he made a botanical survey of the northern portions of Arizona, under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution. Pringle was appointed to the Gray Herbarium as a botanical collector in 1885, eventually making 39 expeditions to Mexico over the next 24 years.[5]
In April 1896, he was elected a member of the newly established New England Botanical Club and attended the meetings when in Boston. He was a charter member and later vice-president of the Vermont Botanical Club.[2]
During his 35 years of field work in the United States, Canada and Mexico, Pringle collected over 500,000 specimens which included some 1,200 species new to science.[2] Duplicates of his own collections were distributed widely and can be found throughout many herbaria in the United States and abroad.
Death
In the last year of his life Pringle was planning a trip to South America, but became ill.[2] He died on May 25, 1911, and is buried in Morningside Cemetery, East Charlotte, Vermont.[6]
Legacy
Pringle is the namesake of the Pringle Herbarium at the University of Vermont.[7]
Several genera were named in honor of Pringle, including Neopringlea (Salicaceae),[8] Pringleella (Ditrichaceae),[9] Pringleochloa (a synonym of Bouteloua Lag.[10]), and Pringleophytum (synonym of Holographis Nees[11]). Likewise, the species Clethra pringlei, Cobaea pringlei, Eryngium pringlei, Lupinus pringlei, Pinus pringlei, Rosa pringlei, and Pachycereus pringlei were all named after him.
Publications
Pringle wrote many articles in The Country Gentleman from 1869 to 1880, including "Origin of the Snowflake Potato" in 1880. In 1884 he published "Pringle's Reports on Forests of Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia," a section in the Report on the Forests of North America (exclusive of Mexico).[12]
Pringle documented his experience during the Civil War in his diary. The Record of a Quaker Conscience: Cyrus Pringle's Diary was published posthumously in 1918 with an introduction by Rufus Jones.[4]
See also
References
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Pringle.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Davis, Helen Burns (1936). Life and Work of Cyrus Guernsey Pringle. Burlington, Vermont: Free Press Printing Co.
- ^ ISBN 978-1605712796.
- ^ ISBN 9780524066584.
- ^ a b Nicholson, Rob (2001). "The Splendid Haul of Cyrus Guernsey Pringle" (PDF). Arnoldia. 61 (1): 2–9. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-01-28. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
- ^ Syrell, Anna (29 July 2021). "Cyrus Guernsey Pringle, botanist". The Charlotte News. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
- ^ "The Pringle Herbarium". University of Vermont. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- ^ "Neopringlea S.Watson | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- ^ "Pringleella — The Plant List". www.theplantlist.org. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
- ^ "Pringleochloa Scribn. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Archived from the original on 14 October 2022. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
- ^ "Pringleophytum A.Gray | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Archived from the original on 14 October 2022. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
- from the original on 2019-01-29. Retrieved 2022-10-14.