William Mitten

William Mitten (1819-1906) was an English pharmaceutical chemist and authority on bryophytes who has been called "the premier bryologist of the second half of the nineteenth century".^[1]

He built up a collection of some 50,000 specimens of bryophytes (mosses, lichens and liverworts) at his home in Hurstpierpoint, Sussex. The collection was largely made up of specimens collected around the world by other collectors and is now at the New York Botanical Garden, having been purchased after his death. These collectors included Richard Spruce and also Alfred Russel Wallace, who subsequently became Mitten's son-in-law.

The standard author abbreviation Mitt. is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.^[2]

References

1. ^ "William Mitten papers". The New York Botanical Garden. http://library.nybg.org/finding_guide/archv/mitten_ppf.html. 
2. ^ "Author Query". International Plant Names Index. http://www.ipni.org/ipni/authorsearchpage.do. 

Sources

• Lawley, Mark. "William Mitten (1819-1906)". British Bryological Society. http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/bbs/Learning/Bryohistory/Bygone%20Bryologists/WILLIAM%20MITTEN.pdf. 

Persondata
Name	Mitten, William
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1819
Place of birth
Date of death	1906
Place of death