Bentham, George

Bentham, George

▪ British botanist
born Sept. 22, 1800, Stoke, Devon, Eng.
died Sept. 10, 1884, London
 British botanist whose classification of seed plants (Spermatophyta), based on an exhaustive study of all known species, served as a foundation for modern systems of vascular plant taxonomy.

      Impressed by the French naturalist Pyrame de Candolle's analytic tables of French flora, Bentham began to study botany while managing his father's estate near Montpellier, Fr., and serving as secretary (1826–32) to his uncle, the British philosopher and jurist Jeremy Bentham. In 1833, upon his inheritance of wealth following the deaths of his father and uncle, Bentham turned his full attention to botany.

      After he donated his herbarium of more than 100,000 specimens to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, Surrey, in 1854, the director of the Gardens, Sir William Hooker, invited him to establish permanent quarters there. At Kew, Bentham participated in the Gardens' definitive survey of floras of the British colonies and possessions, for which he prepared the Flora Hongkongensis (1861) and the Flora Australiensis (7 vol., 1863–78), cataloging and describing more than 7,000 species.

      Realizing the inadequacy of current criteria for assigning species to their appropriate genera, he undertook the ambitious task of compiling an unambiguous descriptive classification of all seed plants. Collaborating with Hooker's son Sir Joseph, Bentham spent 27 years in research and examination of specimens for the work Genera Plantarum (3 vol., 1862–83). It was published in Latin and covered 200 “orders” (analogous to what are now known as families) of 7,569 genera, which included more than 97,200 species.

      Although their general system of classification represented little more than a refinement of Candolle's taxonomy and failed to recognize the dynamic nature of plant speciation postulated by Charles Darwin's principles of organic evolution, it established an authoritative taxonomy of genera and species that has been largely adopted by modern systems of classification based upon evolutionary theory. Bentham and Hooker's taxonomy, with modifications, persists throughout the British Commonwealth. Bentham's Handbook of British Flora (1858; 7th ed., 1924) remains a standard work.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • BENTHAM, GEORGE —    botanist, born near Plymouth, nephew of Jeremy and editor of his works, besides a writer on botany (1800 1884) …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • George Bentham — Nacimiento 22 de septiembre de 1800 Stoke (Gran Bretaña …   Wikipedia Español

  • Bentham's taxonomic arrangement of Dryandra — George Bentham s taxonomic arrangement of Dryandra (now B. ser. Dryandra ) was published in 1870, in Volume 5 of Bentham s Flora Australiensis .cite encyclopedia | author = Bentham, George | year = 1870 | title = Dryandra | encyclopedia = Flora… …   Wikipedia

  • George Bentham — (1800–1884). George Bentham (* 22. September 1800 in Stoke, Devon England; † 10. September 1884 in London) war ein britischer Botaniker. Sein offizielles botanisches Autorenkürzel lautet „Benth.“ …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • George Bentham — Infobox Scientist name = PAGENAME box width = image width =150px caption = PAGENAME birth date = September 22, 1800 birth place = Portsmouth death date = September 10, 1884 death place = residence = citizenship = nationality = English ethnicity …   Wikipedia

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  • George Grote — (November 17, 1794–June 18, 1871) was an English classical historian, best known in the field for a major work, the voluminous History of Greece , still read.BiographyHe was born at Clay Hill near Beckenham in Kent. His grandfather, Andreas,… …   Wikipedia

  • Bentham — can refer to the following:People* Jeremy Bentham, philosopher * Samuel Bentham, mechanical engineer, brother of Jeremy * George Bentham, botanist, son of Samuel * Charles Bentham, English shipwright in Dutch service * Karla Bentham, character in …   Wikipedia

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