George Newton Best

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George Newton Best
BornOctober 16, 1846
Round Valley, Clinton Township, New Jersey
DiedJune 18, 1926 (1926-06-19) (aged 79)
Rosemont, Hunterdon County, New Jersey
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Pennsylvania
Known forPlant taxonomy
Scientific career
FieldsBryology, Medicine
InstitutionsRiegelsville High School
Author abbrev. (botany)Best

George Newton Best (October 16, 1846 – June 18, 1926) was an American bryologist, expert on moss taxonomy, and second president of the Sullivant Moss Society.[1][2]

Biography[edit]

Best attended Lafayette College for three years before leaving to teach high school in Riegelsville, Pennsylvania. He resumed his education at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with a degree in medicine in 1875. He took up his medical practice in the Rosemont section of Delaware Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey.[2]

Best was also a prominent bryologist, contributing often to Torrey Botanical Club publications. He was instrumental in revising and reclassifying many moss genera, including Thuidium, Claopodium, Heterocladium, Leskea, and Pseudoleskea.[3]

Best served as associate editor of The Bryologist from 1911 until his death, and as president of the Sullivant Moss Society from 1901 to 1902.[1][4] Best was also a member of the Medical Society of New Jersey, American Medical Association, and Torrey Botanical Club. He died on June 18, 1926.[5]

Legacy[edit]

Best's personal herbarium of mosses and publications were absorbed into the collection of the New York Botanical Garden.[5]

In 1906, botanist Broth. published Bestia, which is a genus of mosses belonging to the family Lembophyllaceae and it was named in George Newton Best's honour.[6]

Selected publications[edit]

  • Best, G. (1896). Revision of the North American Thuidiums. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 23(3), 78–90. doi:10.2307/2478118
  • Best, G. (1897). Revision of the Claopodiums. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 24(9), 427–432. doi:10.2307/2477924
  • Best, G. (1900). Revision of the North American Species of Pseudoleskea. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 27(5), 221–236. doi:10.2307/2485378
  • Best, G. (1901). Revision of the North American Species of Heterocladium. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 28(2), 123–131. doi:10.2307/2477888
  • Best, G. (1901). Vegetative Reproduction of Mosses. The Bryologist, 4(1), 1º3. doi:10.2307/3238870
  • Best, G. (1903). Revision of the North American Species of Leskea. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 30(9), 463–482. doi:10.2307/2478535

The standard author abbreviation Best is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Presidents of ABLS, The American Bryological and Lichenological Society, retrieved 2019-09-28.
  2. ^ a b Snell, James P., and Franklin Ellis. History of Hunterdon and Somerset Counties, New Jersey: with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers. Everts & Peck, 1881.
  3. ^ Leonard, John W., and Albert N. Marquis. Who's who in America, Volumes 2-4. Marquis Who's Who, 1906.
  4. ^ Smith, Annie Morrill. The Early History of the Bryologist and the Sullivant Moss Society. The Bryologist, vol. 20, no. 1, 1917, pp. 1–8. JSTOR 3238019
  5. ^ a b Beals, A. T. Dr. George N. Best, 1846-1926. The Bryologist, vol. 30, no. 2, 1927, pp. 20–22. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3238332
  6. ^ Burkhardt, Lotte (2022). Eine Enzyklopädie zu eponymischen Pflanzennamen [Encyclopedia of eponymic plant names] (pdf) (in German). Berlin: Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin. doi:10.3372/epolist2022. ISBN 978-3-946292-41-8. S2CID 246307410. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  7. ^ International Plant Names Index.  Best.
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