Frank Nicholas Meyer

Frank Nicholas Meyer
250 px Frank N Meyer circa 1909
Born	Frans Nicholaas Meijer 1875 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Died	1918 (aged 42–43) near Shanghai, China
Occupation	Botanical exploration
Employer	United States Department of Agriculture

Frank Nicholas Meyer (1875 – 1918) was an United States Department of Agriculture explorer who traveled to Asia to collect new plant species. He introduced 2,500 plants into the United States. The Meyer lemon was named in his honor.

Biography

He was born Frans Nicholaas Meijer in Amsterdam in 1875. He emigrated to the United States in 1901, and went to work for Erwin F. Smith at the United States Department of Agriculture. In 1902, Meyer began working at USDA's Plant Introduction Station in Santa Ana, California. Meyer was hired in 1905 by the USDA in their Office of Seed and Plant Introduction to send back to the United States economically useful plants. Through an arrangement with Charles Sprague Sargent and David Fairchild Meyer was also to send to the Arnold Arboretum trees and shrubs of ornamental value. They archived images he collected of his travels.

Specimens he collected included apricots, soybeans, and ginkgo biloba.

In June 1918, while traveling to Shanghai on the Japanese riverboat Feng Yang Maru, he fell overboard into the Yangtze River and drowned.

Works

• Meyer, Frank Nicholas and David Fairchild. South China explorations. Typescript, July 25, 1916 – September 21, 1918.

Legacy

In recognition of his industry, the Frank N. Meyer Medal for Plant Genetic Resources was struck by his United States Department of Agriculture colleagues, funded by his bequest to the organization.

References

• Fairchild, David. An Agricultural Explorer in Asia. Asia; the American Magazine on the Orient. January, 1921.

External links

• Botanical and Cultural Images of Eastern Asia, 1907-1927 at Harvard