Britton, Nathaniel Lord (1859–1934)

US botanist who set up the New York Botanical Gardens. His own research focused on taxonomy (the classification of living organisms). His most famous book was Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada, and the British Possessions 1896.

Britton was born in Staten Island, New York and educated at the School of Mines of Columbia College, where he graduated as an engineer 1879. He worked initially as an assistant in geology at Columbia, but then became a botanist and the assistant geologist for the Geological Survey of New Jersey. He returned to Columbia 1887 to teach botany and geology and was appointed professor of botany. Following a visit to Kew Gardens in London in 1885, he initiated the development of the New York Botanical Gardens 1896, obtaining and developing 250 acres of land in Bronx Park.