Biography

Botanist and physician, born in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. Charles Christopher Parry emigrated to upstate New York with his parents when he was nine years old, and after graduating from Union College in 1842 studied medicine at Columbia University. As a teenager he made extensive plant collections near the family home in Washington County. His botany instructor at Columbia, John Torrey, became his lifelong friend and mentor.

In 1846, Parry, newly qualified as a doctor, moved to Davenport, Iowa, to set up practice. He soon discovered he cared more for botany than medicine, however, and although Davenport remained his home, he would spend the rest of his life almost continuously in the field. He served as surgeon and botanist on the geological survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota in 1848 and on the United States-Mexican Boundary Survey from 1849 to 1852. Collections made on the latter survey, mainly from California, include 62 new species named by or after him, most notably the Torrey Pine (Pinus torreyana Parry ex Carrière) and the very rare Parry's Lily (Lilium parryi S. Watson). He wrote the introduction to the volume on botany for the final survey report and subsequently published many articles in scientific journals and newspapers.

Parry was the first person to hold the position of botanist in the United States Department of Agriculture at the Smithsonian Institution (1869-1871). For the rest of his life, each year he explored the western United States and northern Mexico during the summer months, either on his own or on organised surveys like the Pacific Railway Survey from Arkansas to California in 1867. Closer to home, he was often helped in his plant collecting by his second wife, Emily.

Parry collected about 30,000 specimens in total. He enjoyed botanising at high altitude and was a keen mountaineer. Parry's Peak in the Colorado Rockies is named after him, and he in turn named other peaks in the range after his friends (Gray's Peak, Torrey's Peak, Mount Engelmann, James Peak, and Audubon Peak). His herbarium, books, and personal papers are archived at Iowa State University.

Sources:
L. Blakely, 2000, Newsletter of the Bristlecone Chapter, 20(3)
Iowa State University, Parry Archives:
http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/manuscripts/MS290.html.

Biography

Botanist and physician, born in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. Charles Christopher Parry emigrated to upstate New York with his parents when he was nine years old, and after graduating from Union College in 1842 studied medicine at Columbia University. As a teenager he made extensive plant collections near the family home in Washington County. His botany instructor at Columbia, John Torrey, became his lifelong friend and mentor.

In 1846, Parry, newly qualified as a doctor, moved to Davenport, Iowa, to set up practice. He soon discovered he cared more for botany than medicine, however, and although Davenport remained his home, he would spend the rest of his life almost continuously in the field. He served as surgeon and botanist on the geological survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota in 1848 and on the United States-Mexican Boundary Survey from 1849 to 1852. Collections made on the latter survey, mainly from California, include 62 new species named by or after him, most notably the Torrey Pine (Pinus torreyana Parry ex Carrière) and the very rare Parry's Lily (Lilium parryi S. Watson). He wrote the introduction to the volume on botany for the final survey report and subsequently published many articles in scientific journals and newspapers.

Parry was the first person to hold the position of botanist in the United States Department of Agriculture at the Smithsonian Institution (1869-1871). For the rest of his life, each year he explored the western United States and northern Mexico during the summer months, either on his own or on organised surveys like the Pacific Railway Survey from Arkansas to California in 1867. Closer to home, he was often helped in his plant collecting by his second wife, Emily.

Parry collected about 30,000 specimens in total. He enjoyed botanising at high altitude and was a keen mountaineer. Parry's Peak in the Colorado Rockies is named after him, and he in turn named other peaks in the range after his friends (Gray's Peak, Torrey's Peak, Mount Engelmann, James Peak, and Audubon Peak). His herbarium, books, and personal papers are archived at Iowa State University.

Sources:
L. Blakely, 2000, Newsletter of the Bristlecone Chapter, 20(3)
Iowa State University, Parry Archives:
http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/manuscripts/MS290.html.

Biography

Botanist and physician, born in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. Charles Christopher Parry emigrated to upstate New York with his parents when he was nine years old, and after graduating from Union College in 1842 studied medicine at Columbia University. As a teenager he made extensive plant collections near the family home in Washington County. His botany instructor at Columbia, John Torrey, became his lifelong friend and mentor.

In 1846, Parry, newly qualified as a doctor, moved to Davenport, Iowa, to set up practice. He soon discovered he cared more for botany than medicine, however, and although Davenport remained his home, he would spend the rest of his life almost continuously in the field. He served as surgeon and botanist on the geological survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota in 1848 and on the United States-Mexican Boundary Survey from 1849 to 1852. Collections made on the latter survey, mainly from California, include 62 new species named by or after him, most notably the Torrey Pine (Pinus torreyana Parry ex Carrière) and the very rare Parry's Lily (Lilium parryi S. Watson). He wrote the introduction to the volume on botany for the final survey report and subsequently published many articles in scientific journals and newspapers.

Parry was the first person to hold the position of botanist in the United States Department of Agriculture at the Smithsonian Institution (1869-1871). For the rest of his life, each year he explored the western United States and northern Mexico during the summer months, either on his own or on organised surveys like the Pacific Railway Survey from Arkansas to California in 1867. Closer to home, he was often helped in his plant collecting by his second wife, Emily.

Parry collected about 30,000 specimens in total. He enjoyed botanising at high altitude and was a keen mountaineer. Parry's Peak in the Colorado Rockies is named after him, and he in turn named other peaks in the range after his friends (Gray's Peak, Torrey's Peak, Mount Engelmann, James Peak, and Audubon Peak). His herbarium, books, and personal papers are archived at Iowa State University.

Sources:
L. Blakely, 2000, Newsletter of the Bristlecone Chapter, 20(3)
Iowa State University, Parry Archives:
http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/manuscripts/MS290.html.