Biography

United States botanist. Harold William Rickett was not primarily a plant collector, his forte lay in collecting botanical information and editing, collating, indexing and correctly naming this material. He was also a prolific author of botanical books and articles, his most outstanding work the six-volume Wild Flowers of the United States, sponsored by the New York Botanical Garden and edited by Dr William C. Steere, director of the garden. Not only did Rickett write the text in non-technical language for the layman, he scanned thousands of colour slides of the plants, and travelled for over three years taking pictures and ensuring that each species was correctly illustrated. Published by McGraw- Hill the first volume appeared in 1966, the final in 1973. Other books he wrote are Botany for Gardeners (1957) and The Green Earth: an Invitation to Botany (1943).

Born in Birmingham, England, Ricketts emigrated to the United States in 1911. He spent his first two college years at Harvard University and his botanical education culminated with a PhD degree at the University of Wisconsin. Later, while serving as associate professor at the University of Missouri (1928-1938), he collaborated with the Dean of Graduate Studies, William J, Robbins, in publishing the text book Laboratory Directions for General Botany, and when Dr Robbins was appointed director of the New York Botanical Garden, he recruited Rickett to serve as the Garden's bibliographer and editor.

During his many years at the NYBG, Rickett contributed both to the Garden and the international botanical community as editor, author of original articles and book reviews, bibliographer and biographer, and collaborator in editing editions of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. A member of the Torrey Botanical Club for 30 years and an editor of its Bulletin from 1939-1959, he continued as historian of the club and collaborated with Lazella Schwarten as compiler of the Index to American Botanical Literature. With Wendell Holmes Camp, he also developed the Taxonomic Index. Following his long involvement in botanical nomenclature, Rickett was appointed to the editorial board of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature at the Seventh International Botanical Congress in 1952, and with support from the National Science Foundation attended congress meetings in Paris (1954), Montreal (1959) and Edinburgh (1964). Rickett's contribution to systematic botany is well documented in the 238 titles of books and articles and more than 100 book reviews he published. Dr Rickett, who received two Distinguished Service Medals from the NYBG, died in California in 1989.

Sources:
R.A. Howard, 1991, "Harold William Rickett (1896-1989)", Taxon, 40(2): 345-349.