American botanist and collector. Allen Curtiss was a professional collector who gathered plant specimens for distribution, and subsequently his sheets can be found in almost all the major herbaria of the world. Born in Central Square, Oswego County, New York, he moved to Virginia with his family in 1862 and began his botanical collecting in this state the following year. From 1875 Curtiss was based in Florida where he continued his professional collecting activities in connection with the US Department of Agriculture. Having explored Florida extensively, he discovered many plants new to the southern part of that state, including Lythrum curtissii Fernald, which was described based on material collected by him. Curtiss seems to have used A.W. Chapman's Flora of the Southern United States (1889) to identify his plants, for it was the only comprehensive treatment available at the time. Later in his life he began to extend his botanical activity to some parts of the West Indies. Curtiss was editor of the Florida Farmer and Fruitgrower and also produced several floristic works including "Catalogue of the phaenogamous and vascular cryptogamous plants of Canada and the north-eastern portion of the United States" (1873) and "List of Forest Trees of Florida" (1884). Curtiss died in Jacksonville, Florida.

Sources:
J.K. Small, 1931, "The Brittle-Thatch: Thrinax microcarpa", Journal of the New York Botanical Garden, 32(373): 1-6
F.A. Stafleu and R.S. Cowan, 1976-1998, Taxonomic Literature, 2nd edition (TL-2), 4: 519-520
D.B. Ward, 2005, "Rediscovery of Sisyrinchium corymbosum Bicknell (Iridaceae), Lost for One Hundred Years", Castanea, 70(2): 155-157.