William Jack (botanist)

William Jack (1795, Aberdeen – 1822, Bencoolen, Sumatra) was a Scottish botanist.

Jack was employed by the East India Company as a surgeon in India, where he also studied botany and corresponded extensively with Nathaniel Wallich.^[1] In 1818 he accompanied Stamford Raffles to Sumatra where he extensively documented the rich flora of that region until his untimely death in 1822.^[1] Much of his work, including manuscripts, drawings, and collections were destroyed by fire in 1824.^[1]

Three plant genera are named after him:^[2]

Jakkia Blume, 1823, in family Polygalaceae
Jackia Wall., 1824, a synonym of Jackiopsis Ridsdale,^[3] in family Rubiaceae
Jackia Spreng., nom. illeg., 1826, a synonym of Eriolaena in family Malvaceae

The standard author abbreviation Jack is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.^[4]

Published works

Descriptions of Malayan Plants 1820–1822. Originally published in Malayan Miscellanies, and reprinted in various forms at later dates.
William Jack, communicated by Robert Brown (1823) On the Malayan Species of Melastoma, Transactions of The Linnean Society of London 14(1): 1-22
William Jack, communicated by Aylmer Bourke Lambert (1823) On Cyrtandraceae, a new Natural Order of Plants, Transactions of The Linnean Society of London 14(1): 23-45
William Jack, communicated by Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1823) Account of the Lansium and some other Genera of Malayan Plants, Transactions of The Linnean Society of London 14(1): 114-130

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Elmer Drew Merrill. "William Jack's genera and species of Malaysian plants". Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 33 (3): 199–251. http://biostor.org/reference/77732.
^ Stafleu, F.A.; Cowan, R.S. (1976–1988). Taxonomic literature: A selective guide to botanical publications and collections with dates, commentaries and types. Second Edition. Utrecht: Bohn, Scheltema and Holkema.
^ Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). "Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 [and more or less continuously updated since"]. http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/.
^ "Author Query". International Plant Names Index. http://www.ipni.org/ipni/authorsearchpage.do.

Nationaal Herbarium Nederland

Persondata
Name	Jack, William
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1795
Place of birth	Aberdeen
Date of death	1822
Place of death	Bencoolen, Sumatra