Lucien Marcus Underwood | |
---|---|
Born |
, New York, USA |
October 26, 1853
Died | November 16, 1907 Redding, Connecticut |
(aged 54)
Nationality | American |
Fields | Botany, Mycology, Pteridology |
Lucien Marcus Underwood (October 26, 1853 – November 16, 1907) was an American botanist and mycologist of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
He was born in , and graduated from Syracuse University. In 1880 he was appointed professor of geology and botany in Illinois Wesleyan University, in 1883 professor of biology in his alma mater, and in 1891 he became professor of botany in De Pauw University. In 1896, Underwood became a professor of botany at Columbia University and joined the staff of the New York Botanical Garden.
Underwood published numerous papers in botanical journals, and was the author of Our Native Ferns and how to study them (Bloomington, Ill., 1881; 4th ed., 1893), Descriptive Catalogue of North American Hepaticae (New York, 1884) and “Hepaticae” in Gray's Manual of Botany. He also prepared An Illustrated Century of Fungi with 100 specimens (1889), and Hepaticae Americanae with 160 specimens (1887–93).
After losing large amounts of money on Wall Street, Underwood attempted to murder his wife and daughter before committing suicide at the family's home in Redding, Connecticut.