User:DavidAnstiss/Robert Crichton Foster

Robert Crichton Foster (21 July 1904 - 10 March 1986) was an American plant pathologist and botanist. He is primarily known for his work on

Robert Crichton Foster (21 July 1904 - 10 March 1986) was an American botanist

Robert Crichton Foster Personal information Birth July 21, 1904

Death March 10, 1986 ibid nationality

Professional information Occupation botanist, teacher , Heritage Contributions to the Flora of Bolivia Foster belonged to the scientific team of the Asa Gray herbarium (at Harvard) from 1940 to 1970, when he retires. He worked actively in the flora of Bolivia.

Biography
Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1904, and educated at Harvard, he received his AB in 1926 and his AM in 1927. He then taught History at Connecticut College from 1927 to 1932, and then return to Harvard to study for a Ph.D. in botany. While he was there, he was a Biology instructor at the Radcliffe College, from 1934 to 1935. He completed his doctorate in 1936, and won by opposition a teaching position at Harvard, from 1936 to 1937. From 1937 to 1938, Foster is a Botany instructor at the University of Arizona. Foster returns to Harvard in 1940 and will develop the rest of his career there: "Gray Herbarium" assistant from 1940 to 1947; curator from 1947 to 1954; botanist and bibliographer from 1954 until his retirement in 1970. In this last function, he was responsible for organizing the "Gray Herbarium Indexes".

He had great interest in the Iridaceae family, and in the flora of Bolivia; publishing in "Contributions of the Gray Herbarium". He did not complete his projected "flora of Bolivia", but he published a catalog of ferns and phanerogams of Bolivia as a "Contribution" in 1958. He also published several short boots on historical-bibliographic problems of Botany.

Robert C. Foster (D/Bot, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson; Technical Assistant, Gray Herbarium ) 1937-1947

Studies in the Flora of Bolivia, 1946, Published by the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University

Studies in the Iridaceae, - II: A Revision of Geissorhiza Ker-Gawl Front Cover Robert C. Foster Gray Herbarium of Harvard University, 1941

Biometric Studies, I. Floral Characters in Six North American Species of Iris Front Cover Robert C. Foster Gray Herbarium of Harvard University, 1950

A CATALOGUE OF THE FERNS AND FLOWERING PLANTS OF BOLIVIA Robert C. Foster Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University No. 184 (1958), pp. 1-223 Published by: Harvard University Herbaria https://www.jstor.org/stable/41764644 Page Count: 223

Robert C. Foster University of Miami Press, 1959 Botany Volume 1; Volume 3 of Bibliography on southwestern Asia / by Henry Field Part 3 of Subject index to I - V

Breeding Results in the Genus Iris.

(Botanist from 1904-1986)

Calydorea approximata Mastigostyla boliviensis Nemastylis nuttallii Iris douglasiana var. oregonensis ''Hesperantha marlothii Iris munzii Tigridia conzattii Iris fernaldii, Iris albomarginata, Hesperoxiphion herrerae Libertia colombiana Iris thompsonii

Botanical author of several Iris species such as ﻿Iris albomarginata, Iris angustispatha, Iris brevicaulis Boonensis, Iris citriregalis, Iris fernaldii, ﻿Iris munzii﻿, and Iris thompsonii.

Foster was on the Asa Gray Herbarium science team from 1940 to 1970, when he retired. He worked actively in the flora of Bolivia.

He was born in Springfield (Massachusetts), in 1904, and is educated at Harvard , receiving his AB in 1926 and his AM in 1927. He will teach History at Connecticut College from 1927 to 1932, and then return to Harvard to study for a Ph.D. in Botany. While there, he was an instructor of Biology at "Radcliffe College" from 1934 to 1935. He completed his doctorate in 1936, and won a teaching position at Harvard from 1936 to 1937 by opposition. From 1937 to 1938, Foster was an instructor of Botany at the University of Arizona. Foster returns to Harvard in 1940 and will develop the rest of his career there: assistant at the "Gray Herbarium" from 1940 to 1947 ; curator from 1947 to 1954 ; botanist and bibliographer from 1954 until his retirement in 1970. In this last function he was responsible for organizing the "Gray Herbarium Card Indexes".

He had great interest in the family of Iridaceae and in Flora of Bolivia ; publishing in "Contributions of the Gray Herbarium". He did not complete his projected "flora of Bolivia", but did publish a catalog of the ferns and phanerogams of Bolivia as a "Contribution" in 1958. He also published several short boots on historical-bibliographical problems of Botany.

Brummitt, RK; CE Powell. 1992. Authors of Plant Names. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ISBN 1-84246-085-4

Robert Crichton Foster (1904 - 1986) amerikanischer Botaniker und Bibliograph, arbeitete 1940 - 70 am Gray Herbar der Harvard Universität in Cambridge/Massachusetts u.a. als Assistent, später als Kurator, war Spezialist für amerikanische Iridaceae und die Flora von Bolivien _____ (R.C.Foster) Fosteria Molseed 1968 (Iridaceae) → Brittonia 20: 232. 1968 _____ Elwood Wendell Molseed ... 'It gives me great plaesure to name this new genus for Dr. Robert C. Foster, of Harvard University, a long-time and devoted student of American Iridaceae.' In 1968, botanist Elwood Wendell Molseed published Fosteria Molseed (in Iridaceae family), this is now classed as a synonym of Tigridia Juss.