Biography

American linguist and botanist who collected plants in China and California. Joseph Nevin was born and spent his early life in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Graduating from Jefferson College in 1854, he served as a Presbyterian clergyman from 1858, travelling to China in 1859 as a missionary. He remained in this country until 1877, after which he resided in Los Angeles running the Chinese mission there. He retired in 1895.

In China Nevin lived and worked in Canton, where he became a scholarly Chinese linguist and translated portions of the Bible into Chinese. It was here that his interest in botany also developed, apparently as a relief from his study of the Chinese language. He collected some plants in China, but is better known for his botanical explorations in California. He had gained the attention of some eminent botanists for his collecting work in China, and back in California he was visited by Asa Gray and C.C. Parry.

Nevin became good friends with his neighbour, fellow plantsman William Scrugham Lyon. Together they were among the first botanists to collect plants on Catalina Island off the southern coast of California, where they travelled in 1884 with botanist Gustav Eisen. They collected together again on San Clemente Island in April 1885, the first time that island had ever been visited by botanists. Several species are named after Nevin, including Berberis nevinii A.Gray ex A.Gray & S.Watson, Brickellia nevinii A.Gray and Cordylanthus nevinii A. Gray.

Sources:
J.H. Barnhart, 1965, Biographical Notes Upon Botanists, 2: 547
E. Bretschneider, 1898, History of European Botanical Discoveries In China: 706
W.L. Jepson, 1931, "The Botanical Explorers of California", Madroño, 2: 25-26.