Henry Hurd Rusby (1855–1940) was an American botanist, pharmacist and explorer.[1] He discovered several new species of plants[1] and played a significant role in founding theNew York Botanical Garden and developing research and exploration programs at the institution. He helped to establish the field of economic botany, and left a collection of research and published works in botany and pharmacology.[2]
He joined a series of expeditions from 1880 and 1921[1] and in 1921, he led theMulford Expedition to theAmazon.
Henry H. Rusby grew up in Franklin (today Nutley) New Jersey. He showed a passionate interest in plants. At 21, hisherbarium won first prize at thePhiladelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876.[2] He came to meet Dr.George Thurber who was President of theTorrey Botanical Club. Rusby joined the club in 1879, and by then studied medicine at the School of Medicine of New York University.
In 1880, still a medical student, he spent 18 months collecting plants in Texas and New Mexico for theSmithsonian Institution. In 1883 he returned to the southwest to study and collect medicinal flora of Arizona, forParke-Davis & Co.[2]
In 1884, he graduated with his degree in medicine, and in the following year he embarked on a two-year expedition for Parke, Davis & Co., crossing South America and exploring remote regions of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Brazil.[2]
In 1887, he married Margaretta Saunier Hanna.[3]
Although trained as a physician, Rusby chose to leave medicine for his interest in plants.[2]
In 1889, he became Professor of Botany and Materia Medica at the School of Pharmacy atColumbia University. He was Dean of the Faculty for 26 years until his retirement in 1930, and Dean Emeritus until his death in 1940.[2]
His association withNew York Botanical Garden began even before the garden was formally created. As a member of Torrey Botanical Club, he encountered the celebrated botanist and taxonomistNathaniel Lord Britton. Establishing a botanical garden was a goal for the Torrey Botanical Club. In 1888 a pro-Garden committee of Botany, with eight distinguished members of the club, including Britton and Rusby was formed. Rusby was instrumental in collaboration between the Herbarium School of Columbia, and the botanical Library at the New York Botanical Garden.[2]
In 1893, Nathaniel Lord Britton publishedRusbya, amonotypic genus offlowering plants from Bolivia, belonging to the familyEricaceae and its name is in honour of Henry Hurd Rusby.[4]
On January 26, 1898, Rusby was designated the "Honorary Curator of the Museum of Economic Botany.[2]
His tropical explorations, particularly in the Amazon, provided materials for taxonomic studies and economic botany by the New York Botanical Garden. Productivity in these explorations was due to his strength and exploration skills.
In 1921, at age 65, he made his last trip to South America as Director of the "Mulford Biological Exploration of the Amazon Basin".[2]
Rusby died on November 18, 1940, aged 85.
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