Curtis Gates Lloyd

Curtis Gates Lloyd
Born (1859-07-17)July 17, 1859
Florence, Kentucky
Died November 11, 1926(1926-11-11) (aged 67)
Cincinnati, Ohio
Nationality American
Fields Mycology
Known for Contribution to knowledge of the Gasteromycetes
Author abbrev. (botany) Lloyd

Curtis Gates Lloyd (July 17, 1859 – November 11, 1926) was an American mycologist known for both his research on the Gasteromycetes, as well as his controversial views on naming conventions in taxonomy. He had a herbarium with over 59,000 fungal specimens, and published over a thousand new species of fungi.[1] Along with his two brothers John Uri Lloyd and Nelson Ashley Lloyd, he founded the Lloyd Library and Museum in Cincinnati.

Early life

Curtis Gates Lloyd was the third son of Nelson Marvin and Sophia Webster Lloyd. He and his family moved to Crittenden, Kentucky, in 1867, where Lloyd lived until he was 18. He moved to Cincinnati and was employed as an apprentice in Johnson's pharmacy. This was where he met Dr. John King, physician and editor of the American Dispensatory; the close friendship they formed helped to fuel Lloyd's interest in botany.[2] Lloyd earned his pharmacy certificate while working at the pharmacy. Later, Lloyd was a salesman with Hale, Justice and Co., a drug supply company, and he began accumulating a personal collection of flowering plants.

Career

Lloyd, together with his brother John Uri, started publishing Drugs and Medicines of North America, a quarterly publication that became popular in the fields of botany and medicine.[2] Two years later, he and his two brothers became owners of Lloyd Brothers Manufacturing Pharmacists; Curtis Lloyd's specialty was researching pharmaceuticals from medicinal plants.[2]

Lloyd's interest in mycology was initiated after a meeting with A.P. Morgan in 1887. Soon after, Lloyd directed his attention to the study of the Gasteromycetes, taking field trips and forays to various exotic locales, and collecting more specimens for his growing personal herbarium. In the early 1900s, Lloyd established offices in both Kew, London and in Paris, France. He began publishing his mycological findings, and quickly gained a reputation for his views on the use of personal names in the identification of fungi.[2] He became well known for publishing tirades against the convention of citing author's names after the generic name and specific epithet of plants and fungi, a practice he called "species-grinding".[3] Because he published privately, Lloyd was free to criticize other mycologists guilty of hastily publishing new species. In the article "The Myths of Mycology" (1917) he wrote,

... the mistakes, blunders, and personal foibles of mycological writers have been my chief source of pleasure. I have never failed to express myself plainly, and have spared neither friend nor antagonist. I have always tried to be good-natured in my comments, and as a general thing the parties affected are taking it more as a joke on themselves and an idiosyncrasy of myself. ... Nor am I deceiving myself into the belief that I will accomplish what I am trying to bring about, the abolition of personal advertisements in mycology.

In 1926, plagued by failing eyesight, Lloyd was forced to retire from his mycological work, and returned to Crittenden, where he lived until his death from complications of diabetes, on November 6, 1926. Most of his wealth was placed in endowment with the Lloyd Library and Museum.[2]

“ I have never waged any war excepting on the misdescriptions, misnames, misrepresentations and juggled names of the puff-balls. I trust it has been good-natured, and the chief weapon used has been printer's ink. I have fought, consistently, I hope, some of the abuses that have crept into mycological usage, and only in the interest (as I see it) of better work with these plants". ”
— Lloyd, January 1, 1907, Cybertruffle biography

Publications

He published 26 issues of The Bulletin of the Lloyd Library; six of these were written by him on mycological subjects. He also published 75 issues of Mycological Notes over a period of 28 years (1898–1925).[4]

The standard author abbreviation Lloyd is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Blackwell WH, Powell MJ. (1996). "An analysis of works of, and upon, Curtis Gates Lloyd." Mycotaxon 53: 353–74.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "www.lloydlibrary.org" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  3. ↑ Jorcan DS. (1927). Concerning "species-grinding". Science 66(1696): 14 15.
  4. ↑ Fitzpatrick HM. (1927). Curtis Gates Lloyd. Mycologia 19(4): 153–159.
  5. ↑ IPNI.  Lloyd.

External links

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