Per Axel Rydberg

Last updated • 3 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Per Axel Rydberg
Per Axel Rydberg.jpg
Born(1860-07-06)July 6, 1860
Odh, Västergötland, Sweden
DiedJuly 25, 1931(1931-07-25) (aged 71)
Resting placeWoodlawn Cemetery
Bronx, New York
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Columbia University
Scientific career
Fields Botany
Institutions New York Botanical Garden
Author abbrev. (botany) Rydb.

Per Axel Rydberg (July 6, 1860 – July 25, 1931) was a Swedish-born, American botanist who was the first curator of the New York Botanical Garden Herbarium. [1] [2]

Contents

Biography

Per Axel Rydberg was born in Odh, Västergötland, Sweden and emigrated to the United States in 1882. From 1884 to 1890, he taught mathematics at Luther Academy in Wahoo, Nebraska, while he studied at the University of Nebraska. He graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (B.S. in 1891) and (M.A. in 1895). He earned his graduate degree from Columbia University (Ph.D. in 1898). [3]

After he graduated, Rydberg received a commission from the United States Department of Agriculture to undertake a botanical exploration of western Nebraska. He received another one in 1892 to explore the Black Hills of South Dakota, and in 1893 he was in the Sand Hills, again in western Nebraska. During this time he continued to teach at the Luther Academy.

In 1900 Rydberg conducted field work in southeast Colorado. In 1901 he visited Kew Gardens in England and made a return trip to Sweden as well. In 1905 he was collecting in Utah with visits to the University of Wyoming, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. In 1911 he undertook an exploration of southeast Utah and in 1925, the Allegheny Mountains. A trip in 1926 took him to Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and the Dakotas. His final field expedition was in 1929 to Kansas and Minnesota but it was cut short due to illness and only included work in Kansas.

He was a prolific research publisher, he described around 1700 new species in the course of his career. His expertise was principally in the flora of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. From 1899, Rydberg was on the staff of the New York Botanical Garden, and he later became the first curator of the Garden's Herbarium. [4]

Dr. Rydberg was elected to membership in the Torrey Botanical Club in 1896. In 1900 he joined the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was elected a fellow the following year. Also that year, he was chosen as an Associate of the Botanical Society of America. In 1907 he became a member of the American Geographical Society and the Ecological Society of America.

Personal life

Rydberg married his wife Alfrida Amanda (1878-1933). Rydberg died during 1931 in New York City. He was buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery.

Selected works

The standard author abbreviation Rydb. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name. [6]

Other works

Related Research Articles

<i>Ericameria nauseosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Ericameria nauseosa, commonly known as Chamisa, rubber rabbitbrush, and gray rabbitbrush, is a shrub in the sunflower family (Aster) found in the arid regions of western North America.

<i>Geum triflorum</i> Species of flowering plant

Geum triflorum, commonly known as prairie smoke, old man’s whiskers, torchflower, three-sisters, long-plumed purple avens, lion's beard, or three-flowered avens, is a spring-blooming perennial herbaceous plant of the Rosaceae family. It is a hemiboreal continental climate species that is widespread in colder and drier environments of western North America, although it does occur in isolated populations as far east as New York and Ontario. It is particularly known for the long feathery plumes on the seed heads that have inspired many of the regional common names and aid in wind dispersal of its seeds.

<i>Carex rossii</i> Species of grass-like plant

Carex rossii, commonly known as Ross's sedge, is a hardy species of sedge that is often a pioneer species in areas with little or no established vegetation, or in places where disturbance has occurred. Ross's sedge grows in a variety of habitats throughout much of western North America, from Alaska to Ontario, south to New Mexico and California. It flowers in May and June.

<i>Crepis occidentalis</i> Species of flowering plant

Crepis occidentalis is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names western hawksbeard, or largeflower hawksbeard. It is native to western Canada and the western United States.

<i>Crepis runcinata</i> Species of flowering plant

Crepis runcinata is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name fiddleleaf hawksbeard. It is native to western and central Canada, the western and central United States and northern Mexico (Chihuahua).

Oreochrysum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.

Arnica gracilis is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, known by the common name smallhead arnica. It is native to western Canada and the northwestern United States (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, north-central Colorado, and northern Utah.

<i>Arnica rydbergii</i> Species of flowering plant

Arnica rydbergii is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, known by the common name Rydberg's arnica or subalpine arnica or subalpine leopardbane. It is native to western Canada, and the western United States.

<i>Erigeron formosissimus</i> Species of flowering plant

Erigeron formosissimus is a North American species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae known by the common name beautiful fleabane.

<i>Erigeron glabellus</i> North American species of flowering daisy

Erigeron glabellus is a North American species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, called the streamside fleabane.

Erigeron gracilis is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name quill fleabane.

Symphoricarpos vaccinioides is a North American species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family. It had been found in western Canada and in the western United States.

Willard Webster Eggleston was an American botanist, employed by the United States Department of Agriculture Bureau of Plant Industry. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1891 with a Bachelor of Science degree. In his work on the taxonomy of Crataegus, now known to be complicated by apomixis, polyploidy, and hybridization, he aimed to simplify, counteracting the proliferation of species names that other botanists had produced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Everett Osterhout</span> Botanist (1858-1937)

George Everett Osterhout was an American businessman and botanist. A Pennsylvania native, he later moved to Colorado and became known for his research into the flora of the Rocky Mountains. The standard author abbreviation Osterh. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.

<i>Chionophila tweedyi</i> Perennial herb in the rose family

Chionophila tweedyi, or Tweedy's snowlover, is a perennial herb in the plantain family. It is native to Idaho and Montana in the western United States.

<i>Gilia tweedyi</i> Annual plant in the phlox family

Gilia tweedyi, or Tweedy's gilia, is an annual plant in the phlox family. It is native to the northwestern United States.

Potentilla fissa, the bigflower cinquefoil, also known as the leafy cinquefoil, leafy drymocallis, or wood beauty, is a small plant also sometimes classified as Drymocallis fissa. It is a herbaceous plant with a thick taproot known for its moderately hairy leaves, redish leaf stems, and relatively large yellow flowers. It is native to foothills and lower mountains the Rocky Mountain region in the western United States.

Festuca minutiflora, the smallflower fescue, is a species of grass in the family Poaceae. It is native to Alaska, Alberta, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, and the Yukon. Festuca minutiflora was first published in 1905 by Per Axel Rydberg.

References

  1. Biographical Note, P. A. (Per Axel) Rydberg New York Botanical Garden
  2. "Per Axel Rydberg Records (1898-1929)". Mertz Library. The New York Botanical Garden. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  3. "Rydberg, Per Axel". wku.edu. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  4. Rydberg, P.A. 1895. Flora of the sand hills of Nebraska. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 3:133-203.
  5. Nelson, Aven (1900). "Review of Catalogue of the Flora of Montana and Yellowstone National Park by Per Axel Rydberg". Botanical Gazette. 30: 61–64. doi:10.1086/328013. S2CID   83556923.
  6. International Plant Names Index.  Rydb.

Other sources

Benson, Adolph B.; Naboth Hedin (1969) Swedes In America (New York: Haskel House Publishers)