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Merritt, Melvin Leroy (1879-1961)

Date Updated: 19 April 2013

Herbarium
Natural History Museum (BM)
Collection
Plant Collectors
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Contributor
Natural History Museum (BM)
First name(s)
Melvin Leroy
Last name
Merritt
Initials
M.L.
Life Dates
1879 - 1961
Collecting Dates
1910 - 1952
Specification
Plant collector
Groups collected
Bryophytes Spermatophytes
Organisation(s)
A, BM, E, MANCH, MO, NY, P, PNH, US, USFS
Countries
Malesian region: PhilippinesNorth American region: United States
Associate(s)
Curran, Hugh McCullum (1875-1960) (co-collector)
Darling, F.W. (fl. 1906-1908) (co-collector)
Forestry Bureau Manila (1900-1945) (specimens to)
Zschokke, Theodore Christian (1875-1958) (co-collector)
Biography
U.S. botanist and forester. Melvin Merrit was born in West Union, Iowa, and earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in agriculture at Iowa State College, Ames, before becoming a horticultural instructor at the same college in 1903. From 1905-1909 he lived in the Philippines as a forest officer in the Bureau of Forestry, and from 1910-1943 was employed by the U.S. Forest Service. Merritt collected plant specimens while in the Philippines and a few taxa from there are named after him. He particularly collected at Mt. Halcon in 1906 and Mt. Pulog in 1909.

Sources:
M.J. van Steenis Kruseman, "Cyclopedia of Collectors", Flora Malesiana, online edn:
http://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/FMCollectors/M/MerrittML.htm, accessed 6 November 2010.
References
Hedge, I.C. & Lamond, J.M., Index Coll. Edindb. Herb. (1970): 110; Vegter, H.I., Index Herb. Coll. M (1976): 530;
Merritt, Melvin Leroy (1879-1961)
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