William Brackenridge

{{Short description|Scottish-American botanist (1810–1893)}} {{Use British English|date=July 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}} {{Infobox scientist | name = William Dunlop Brackenridge | image = William Dunlop Brackenridge (young).jpg | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = 1810 | birth_place = Ayr, Scotland | death_date = 1893 | death_place = Baltimore, United States | citizenship = | nationality = | field = botany | work_institutions = Gardener to Patrick Neill, Secretary of the Caledonian Horticultural Society, Edinburgh<br />Student under Christoph Friedrich Otto, Director of the Botanical Garden in Berlin<br />United States Exploring Expedition | alma_mater = | doctoral_advisor = | doctoral_students = | known_for = ''Darlingtonia californica'' | author_abbrev_bot = Brackenr. or Brack. | author_abbrev_zoo = | prizes = | footnotes = | signature = }} thumb|Brackenridge in 1880 '''William Dunlop Brackenridge''' (1810–1893) was a British-American nurseryman and botanist.

Brackenridge emigrated to Philadelphia in 1837, where he was employed by Robert Buist, nurseryman. He was appointed horticulturalist, then assistant botanist, for the United States Exploring Expedition from 1838 to 1842. Originally, the well-known botanist Asa Gray was to be the chief botanist, and William Rich, a Washington, DC socialite and son of an ambassador, was politically appointed as his assistant. However, Gray never went on the expedition due to taking an academic job, and Rich was appointed botanist, so they needed a new assistant. Rich was reportedly of little use on the trip, and Brackenridge did almost all the collecting and serious botany work.

Brackenridge was assigned to the U.S. Ship Vincennes. In 1839, he collected plants in the Sydney and Hunter River districts of New South Wales, Australia. From 1841 to 1842, the ships explored the Oregon and California coasts, with trips inland. After returning, he continued working with the collected plants and wrote the fern report for the expedition, included in the overall botanical report written by Asa Gray. After 1855, he lived in Baltimore and worked as a nurseryman and landscape architect. Near Mount Shasta, he discovered the California Pitcher Plant, ''Darlingtonia californica'', one of the noted successes of the expedition. John Torrey chose the genus name to honor his friend, Pennsylvania botanist William Darlington.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Brackenridge Passage in Puget Sound is named for him.

Reports of the day indicate that Brackenridge was a hardy, strapping six-footer. He and his wife Isobel were Presbyterians. They had at least four children: Agnes (1846), Robert Buist (1847), William D. (1850), and Jane Henderson Brackenridge (1854).

== Plants named for W. D. Brackenridge == *The plant genus ''Brackenridgea'' A. Gray, in the Ochnaceae (Fiji and Australia) *The tree fern ''Cyathea brackenridgei'' Mett. (Cyatheaceae) *The Hibiscus species ''Hibiscus brackenridgei'' A. Gray (Malvaceae)

== Plants named by W. D. Brackenridge == (list not inclusive) *''Diclidopteris'' Brack. (genus) *''Diellia'' Brack. (genus; now included in ''Asplenium'' L.) *''Onychium densum'' Brack.: now ''Aspidotis densa'' (Brack.) Lellinger *''Antrophyum subfalcatum'' Brack. *''Cyrtogonium palustre'' Brack.: now ''Bolbitis palustris'' (Brack.) Hennipman *''Sitolobium samoense'' Brack.: now ''Dennstaedtia samoensis'' ( Brack.) T.Moore *''Gymnogramma pilosa'' Brack.: now ''Coniogramme pilosa'' (Brack.) Hieron. *''Blechnum coriaceum'' (Brack.) Brownlie *''Blechnum vittatum'' Brack. *''Polypodium sarmentosum'' Brack.: now ''Adenophorus sarmentosus'' ( Brack. ) K.Wilson *''Goniopteris costata'' Brack.: now ''Pneumatopteris costata'' (Brack.) Holtt. *''Lastrea attenuata'' Brack.: now ''Plesioneuron attenuatum'' (Brack.) Holtt. *''Goniopteris glandulifera'' Brack.: now ''Pneumatopteris glandulifera'' (Brack.) Holtt. *''Elaphoglossum intermedium'' Brack. *''Oleandra hirta'' Brack.

== Works by W. D. Brackenridge == *Brackenridge, William Dunlop. '''United States Exploring Edition Report, Volume XVI - Botany - Filices.''' 1854. *Brackenridge, William Dunlop. '''United States Exploring Edition Report, Volume XVI - Botany - Filices: Atlas.''' 1856.

== References == {{Reflist}} *Engraving of W. D. Brackenridge: Frontispiece, ''The Gardener’s Monthly and Horticulturist: Devoted to Horticulture, Agriculture and Rural Affairs'', 26:312. December 1884. *[http://siarchives.si.edu/findingaids/FARU7189.htm William Dunlop Brackenridge Papers, circa 1838-1875 in Smithsonian Institution Archives:] *[http://www.npsoregon.org/kalmiopsis/kalmiopsis12/wilkes.pdf Bornholdt, Mariana D. "Botanizing Western Oregon In 1841 – The Wilkes Inland Expedition": ] *Journal of William Dunlop Brackenridge for October, 1841: ''California Historical Society Quarterly'', 24(4):326-336. December, 1945.

==External links== {{commons category-inline|William Dunlop Brackenridge}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=William Brackenridge |sopt=t}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brackenridge, William Dunlop}} Category:British botanists Category:Pteridologists Category:1893 deaths Category:1810 births Category:American horticulturists Category:British horticulturists Category:People of the United States Exploring Expedition Category:People from Ayr Category:Scottish emigrants to the United States Category:Scottish Presbyterians Category:19th-century American botanists