B. L. Robinson

  • Name

    Benjamin L. Robinson

  • Dates

    1864 - 1935

  • Specialities

    Mycology, Pteridophytes, Spermatophytes, Asteraceae, Bryophytes

  • Roles

    Author, Determiner, Collector

  • Movement Details

    Canada (Newfoundland), United States of America, New Hamshire, Illinois, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, Vermont

  • Notes

    Collector Notes: N. America: BM, GH (orig.), NY; New Hampshire: DAO (col. 1901), F, K; United States (Ill., Mass., Me., R.I., S.C., Va., Vt.): GH
    Author Notes: Previously D. sphaeroides var. cusickii
    Reference: Authors of Plant Names. 1992; Authors of Plant Names (1992); Eupatorium hammatocladum B. L. Rob. & Britton (NY 126559); Eupatorium trinitense (Kuntze) Rusby & B. L. Rob. (NY 169208); Mikania hioramii Britton & B. L. Rob.; NY barcode 185592, Nasturtium sinuatum var. columbiae; NY barcode 90357, Draba cusickii var. cusickii; See NY barcode 798625; Syntype of Thermopsisi montana subsp. ovata; Tropicos, Ranunculus eschscholtzii Schltdl. var. trisectus (Eastw. ex B. L. Rob.) L. D. Benson



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    From http://dssmhi1.fas.harvard.edu/emuseumdev/code/emuseum.asp?action=advsearch&newsearch=1&profile=people&rawsearch=constituentid/,/is/,/6818/,/false/,/true&style=single&searchdesc=Benjamin+L.+Robinson (consulted 26 Feb 2014)


    Benjamin Lincoln Robinson (1864-1935) was born in Bloomington, Illinois. He graduated from Harvard in 1887 and pursued graduate studies in Strassburg, earning a Ph.D. in 1889. In 1890 he returned to Cambridge, where he became the assistant to Sereno Watson, the Curator of the Gray Herbarium. After Watson's death in 1892, Robinson took over as curator.

    Robinson took up Watson's work on Asa Gray's Synoptical Flora of North America. He also collaborated with M. L. Fernald in a revised edition of Gray's Manual of Botany, which was published in 1908. From about 1900 to 1909 Robinson tried to have a new herbarium building constructed but eventually settled for a major renovation of the old building at the Botanic Garden. Robinson did much of the design work himself, and the rebuilding took place from 1909-1915.

    Robinson's early research work included a Flora of the Galapagos Islands, published in 1902, based on the collections of the Hopkins-Standford Expedition. Robinson made a collection trip to Newfoundland in 1894 and collected plants near his summer home in Jaffrey, N.H., but otherwise did not do much collecting. His later primary focus was in the area of the Eupatorium tribe of the Compositae. The work was never published.

    Although Robinson was appointed Asa Gray Professor in 1899, he was not active in teaching.

    He was a founding member of the New England Botanic Club, and served as editor of Rhodora for many years. He took an active role in the discussions of nomenclature that were being carried out in the International Botanical Congresses.

  • Collections

    Botanical Collections