Frederick Vernon Coville: Difference between revisions

Coville was considered the American authority on [[Juncaceae]] and [[Grossulariaceae]]. After 1910 he began to work on [[blueberry]], and was the first to discover the importance of [[soil acidity]] (blueberries need highly acidic soil), that blueberries do not self-pollinate, and the effects of cold on blueberries and other plant.<ref name="mirsky">{{cite web|last=Mirsky|first=Steve|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=early-20th-century-botanist-gave-us-11-06-17|title=Early 20th Century Botanist Gave Us Domesticated Blueberries|publisher=Scientific American|accessdate=September 21, 2013}}</ref> In 1911, he began a program of research in conjunction with [[Elizabeth Coleman White|Elizabeth White]], daughter of the owner of the extensive [[cranberry bog]]s at Whitesbog in the [[New Jersey Pine Barrens]]. His work doubled the size of some strains' fruit, and by 1916, he had succeeded in cultivating blueberries, making them a valuable crop in the [[Northeastern United States]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.whitesbog.org/whitesboghistory/history1.htm | title=History of White's Bog | publisher=Whitesbog Preservation Trust | accessdate=January 11, 2008 | deadurl=yes | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515060850/http://www.whitesbog.org/whitesboghistory/history1.htm | archivedate=May 15, 2008 | df= }}</ref> For this work he received the George Roberts White Medal of Honor from the [[Massachusetts Horticultural Society]]. In 1919, Coville played an instrumental role in drawing attention to the threatened state of the only known [[box huckleberry]] colony,<ref>{{cite journal | first=Frederick V. | last=Coville | authorlink=Frederick Vernon Coville | title=The Threatened Extinction of the Box Huckleberry, Gaylussacia brachycera | journal=Science | volume=50 | issue=1280 | date=July 11, 1919 | pages=30&ndash;34 | jstor=1641999| doi=10.1126/science.50.1280.30 | pmid=17801660}}</ref> sparking a revival of interest that led to the discovery of many new specimens of the plant. From 1920 to his death, he was chairman of the [[National Geographic Society]]' Research Committee and was very influential in deciding areas of exploration. At the time of his death he was working on a revision of ''Botany of the Death Valley Expedition'' as a flora of the Valley.

 

 

{{botanist|Coville}}