John Torrey (August 15, 1796 – March 10, 1873) was an American botanist, chemist, and physician. Throughout much of his career, he was a teacher of chemistry, often at multiple universities, while he also pursued botanical work, focusing on the flora of North America. His most renowned works include studies of the New York flora, the Mexican Boundary, the Pacific railroad surveys, and the uncompleted Flora of North America.

Biography

Torrey was born in New York City in 1796, the second child of Capt. William and Margaret (née Nichols) Torrey. He showed a fondness for mechanics, and at one time planned to become a machinist. When he was 15 or 16, his father received an appointment to the state prison at Greenwich Village, New York, where he was tutored by Amos Eaton, then a prisoner and later a pioneer of natural history studies in America. He thus learned the elements of botany and something of mineralogy and chemistry. In 1815 he began studying medicine with Wright Post, and qualified in 1818. He opened a medical practice in New York City, while devoting his leisure to botany and other scientific pursuits.

In 1836 he was appointed botanist to the state of New York and produced his Flora of that state in 1843; while from 1838 to 1843 he carried on the publication of the earlier portions of Flora of North America, with the assistance of his pupil, Asa Gray. From 1853 he was chief assayer to the United States assay office in New York City when that office was established, but he continued to take an interest in botanical teaching until his death.

In 1856, Torrey was chosen a trustee of Columbia College, and in 1860, having presented the college with his herbarium, numbering about 50,000 specimens, he was made emeritus professor of chemistry and botany. On the consolidation of the College of Physicians and Surgeons with Columbia in 1860, he was chosen one of its trustees. His advice was frequently sought on scientific subjects by various corporations. or stinking-cedar.

  • T. californica, also known as California nutmeg or California torreya (although not closely related to true nutmeg).
  • T. nucifera, a coniferous tree native to southern Japan and to South Korea's Jeju Island
  • T. grandis, a conifer endemic to eastern and south-eastern China.

P. torreyana an endangered species from southern California, is also named after the botanist. Torrey first described the carnivorous plant Darlingtonia californica, which he named after his friend Dr. William Darlington. Torrey Canyon in Ventura County, California,[http://california.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,1,fid,274168,n,torrey%20canyon.cfm] was named for him, as was Torreys Peak in Colorado, near Grays Peak, named after his pupil and friend Asa Gray.

A bronze bas-relief portrait of Torrey is mounted in the main building of the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, a former site of Dr. Torrey's summer home. A similar portrait is owned by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. In 2017, the Torrey Botanical Society, started by colleagues of John Torrey, celebrated its 150th birthday. It is the oldest botanical society in the Americas.

Torreys Peak, a fourteen thousand foot mountain in Colorado, was named for Torrey.

References

  • Torrey, John. A Flora of the State of New-York, comprising full descriptions of all the indigenous and naturalized plants hitherto discovered in the State; with remarks on their economical and medicinal properties. Albany: Carroll and Cook, Printers to the Assembly, 1843. A two-volume set with color plates, digitized by the New York State Library.
  • The John Torrey Papers at the Archive of the New York Botanical Garden (includes correspondence, letters, manuscripts and artwork)
  • 1840 Photograph of Torrey @ Harvard University Library

Additional publications online

  • Botanic contributions relating to the flora of western North America [by] Gray, Engelmann, Torrey [and] Frémont (1843–53)
  • A compendium of the flora of the northern and middle states, containing generic and specific descriptions of all the plants, exclusive of the cryptogamia, hitherto found in the United States, north of the Potomac (1826)
  • A flora of North America :containing abridged descriptions of all the known indigenous and naturalized plants growing north of Mexico, arranged according to the natural system by John Torrey and Asa Gray (1838–1843) Two volumes.
  • An introduction to the natural system of botany (1831) With John Lindley.
  • On the Darlingtonia californica, a new pitcher-plant from northern California by John Torrey (1853)
  • Report on the United States and Mexican boundary survey: made under the direction of the secretary of the Interior by William H. Emory, major First Cavalry, and United States commissioner (1857–1859) Part 1 / Part 2 Torrey et al.