George Richard Vasey
George Richard Vasey (1853–1921) was an American plant collector who collected in at least eight U.S. states including California, North Carolina, and Washington. He was the son of Dr. George S. Vasey, a physician and botanist. The botanical activities of father and son overlapped in time, so the two men are often confused.
Life
[edit]George Richard Vasey was born in 1853. The precise place and date of his birth are unknown but records from the United States census of 1900 suggest he was born in Illinois in August 1853.[1] He died in Alberta, Canada on 23 May 1921.[2]
George R. Vasey was the son of George S. Vasey and Martha Jane Scott.[3][4] Following their marriage in 1846, his parents settled in Dexter, New York but by the time Vasey was born, the family lived in Ringwood, Illinois where his father practiced medicine. His mother died when he was about 13 years old. He had six siblings, one of whom died as an infant. Both he and his sister, Flora Nancy Vasey, were plant collectors.[5][6]
George R. Vasey lived in the state of Washington for more than 20 years. In 1882, when Washington was still a territory, he bought some land near Steptoe,[7] which is approximately 40 miles south of what is now Spokane. During the United States census of 1900, Vasey declared himself to be a farmer.[1] He left Washington around 1905 to homestead in Alberta, Canada, which is where he eventually died.[3]
Collections
[edit]George R. Vasey collected thousands of plant specimens in at least nine U.S. states:[8]
- 1875–1876: California
- 1878: North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia
- 1880–1881: California, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico
- 1883, 1888–1889, 1899–1901: Washington
His specimens are preserved at numerous herbaria but the bulk of them are held by the United States National Herbarium (US),[9] the New York Botanical Garden (NY),[10] and the Harvard University Herbaria (HUH).[5] Most of them are labeled with the collector name "G. R. Vasey" but a few bear other names such as "Geo. R. Vasey" and "Vasey Jr." (Collector names used by his father George S. Vasey include "G. Vasey", "Geo. Vasey", and "Dr. Geo. Vasey".) Many of G. R. Vasey's specimens lack adequate locality information. It is thought that his collections were sent to his father at the United States Department of Agriculture without labels.[11]
Based on herbarium records, G. R. Vasey collected thousands of plant specimens in the Southwestern United States in 1880 and 1881.[12] In 1880, he studied the trees of California for the Forestry Report of the Tenth Census published in 1884.[13] There are dozens of references to G. R. Vasey in that report.[14] In 1881, he collected hundreds of specimens in Southern California, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico. During the summer of that year, he visited the Sangre de Cristo Mountains west of Las Vegas, New Mexico and the Organ Mountains east of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Legacy
[edit]There are dozens of eponymous taxon names that include an epithet such as vaseyi, vaseyanus, vaseyana, or vaseyanum.[15][16][17][18] Some of these names honor George R. Vasey while many of them acknowledge his father, George S. Vasey, a botanist who began collecting plants as a teenager growing up in Oneida County, New York. Notable examples of names that recognize the younger Vasey include Rhododendron vaseyi, Trillium vaseyi, Artemisia vaseyana, and Cirsium hydrophilum var. vaseyi.
The American botanist Asa Gray named and described Rhododendron vaseyi in 1879.[19] In his description, Gray included the following anecdote:[20]
As this interesting accession to our flora is one of the fruits of a botanical tour recently made by Mr. George R. Vasey, son of Dr. Vasey, the botanist of the Agricultural Department, who recognized its novelty and placed a specimen in my hands, I seize the opportunity of commemorating the name of Vasey in connection with the noble genus Rhododendron.
George R. Vasey collected the type specimen of Rhododendron vaseyi A.Gray in Jackson County, North Carolina in 1878.[21] The species is sometimes referred to as the Vasey Rhododendron.[22]
The species Trillium vaseyi was named and described by the American botanist Thomas Grant Harbison in 1901.[23] In his description, Harbison claimed that "this Trillium was collected in the mountains of North Carolina in 1878 by Dr. George Vasey, whose name I take pleasure in associating with this species".[24] However, the type specimen of Trillium vaseyi Harb. was in fact collected by George R. Vasey,[25][26] not his father. The species is commonly known as Vasey's trillium.[27]
The subspecies Artemisia tridentata subsp. vaseyana was first described as Artemisia vaseyana by the American botanist Per Axel Rydberg in 1916.[28] The type specimen was collected by George R. Vasey in the state of Washington in 1889.[29] As of December 2024[update], Artemisia vaseyana Rydb. is a homotypic synonym for Artemisia tridentata subsp. vaseyana (Rydb.) Beetle.[30] The taxon is commonly called the Vasey sage.[31]
The variety Cirsium hydrophilum var. vaseyi was first described as Cnicus breweri var. vaseyi by Asa Gray in 1884.[32] The type specimen was collected by George R. Vasey on Mount Tamalpais in 1876.[33] In his description of Cirsium hydrophilum var. vaseyi in 1959, the American botanist John Thomas Howell referred to the taxon as "the plant of Vasey's collecting",[34] more commonly known as Vasey's thistle.[35]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "United States Census 1900: George R. Vasey". FamilySearch. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
- ^ "George Richard Vasey". FamilySearch. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
- ^ a b Charters, Michael L. "An Annotated Dictionary of Botanical and Biographical Etymology". California Plant Names: Latin and Greek Meanings and Derivations. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
- ^ "United States Census 1860: George S. Vasey". FamilySearch. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
- ^ a b "Vasey, George Richard". Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
- ^ "Vasey, Flora Nancy". Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
- ^ "Bureau of Land Management Tract Books, 1800-c. 1955". United States, Bureau of Land Management. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
- ^ "Search for 'G. R. Vasey'". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
- ^ "Search for 'G. R. Vasey' at US". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
- ^ "Search for 'G. R. Vasey' at NY". New York Botanical Garden. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
- ^ Anderson, G. D. (2006). "Potentilla ambigens Greene (silkyleaf cinquefoil): a technical conservation assessment" (PDF). USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region. p. 13. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
- ^ "Search for 'G. R. Vasey' during 1880–1881". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
- ^ "Botanical notes". The American Naturalist. 14 (8): 593. 1880. doi:10.1086/272630. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
- ^ Sargent, Charles S. (1884). Report on the Forests of North America. Washington: Department of the Interior, Census Office. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
- ^ "Search for 'vaseyi'". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
- ^ "Search for 'vaseyanus'". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
- ^ "Search for 'vaseyana'". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
- ^ "Search for 'vaseyanum'". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
- ^ "Rhododendron vaseyi A.Gray". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
- ^ Gray (1880), pp. 48–49.
- ^ "Specimen GH00015336: Rhododendron vaseyi A.Gray". Harvard University Herbaria. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
- ^ Dunne-Brady, John. "VASEY, George S. (1822–1893)" (PDF). pp. 64–65. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
- ^ "Trillium vaseyi Harb.". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
- ^ Harbison (1901), p. 24.
- ^ Floden & Knapp (2023), p. 198.
- ^ "Specimen US00091979: Trillium vaseyi Harb.". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
- ^ Pistrang, Mark. "Vasey's Trillium (Trillium vaseyi) Harbison". United States Forest Service. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
- ^ "Artemisia vaseyana Rydb.". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
- ^ "Specimen NY00158573: Artemisia vaseyana Rydb.". New York Botanical Gardens. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
- ^ "Artemisia tridentata subsp. vaseyana (Rydb.) Beetle". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
- ^ Innes, Robin J. (2017). "Artemisia tridentata subsp. vaseyana". Fire Effects Information System. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
- ^ "Cnicus breweri var. vaseyi A.Gray". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
- ^ "Specimen GH00006051: Cnicus breweri var. vaseyi A.Gray". Harvard University Herbaria. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
- ^ Howell (1959), p. 11.
- ^ "Cirsium hydrophilum (Greene) Jeps. var. vaseyi (A.Gray) J.T.Howell". Calflora. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
Bibliography
[edit]- Floden, Aaron; Knapp, Wesley (June 2023). "Typification of the North American species of Trillium subg. Trillium (Melanthiaceae: Parideae)". Phytotaxa. 599 (3): 193–200. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.599.3.6.
- Gray, Asa (1880). "Botanical contributions". Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 15. Boston, Massachusetts: 25–52. doi:10.2307/25138561. JSTOR 25138561. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
- Harbison, Thomas G. (1901). "New or little known species of Trillium". Biltmore Botanical Studies. 1 (1): 19–24. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
- Howell, John Thomas (1959). "Studies in Cirsium II". Leaflets of Western Botany. 9. San Francisco, CA: 9–15. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
External links
[edit]- "Vasey, George Richard". Tropicos. Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
- Spady, Betty (2004). "George Vasey: An Email Conversation". Rhododendron and Azalea News. 3 (1). Archived from the original on 2008-03-14. Retrieved 2007-12-31.