Curtis Gates Lloyd
| Curtis Gates Lloyd | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
July 17, 1859 Florence, Kentucky |
| Died | November 11, 1926 (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. Along with his two brothers John Uri Lloyd and Nelson Ashley Lloyd, he founded the Lloyd Library and Museum in Cincinnati.
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. 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.
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. 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.
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. 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". 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,
...
Wikipedia