C. G. (Curtis Gates) Lloyd

Born in Kentucky in 1859, Curtis Gates Lloyd became one of the most prolific American students of fungi of his era. He is especially associated with research on gasteroid and polypore fungi, and sources describe him as having named more than a thousand fungal species over the course of his career.

Lloyd also built an enormous herbarium of fungal specimens and was closely connected with the Lloyd Library and Museum in Cincinnati, which he helped found with his brothers John Uri Lloyd and Nelson Ashley Lloyd. Alongside his scientific work, he became known for his strong, sometimes controversial opinions about taxonomy and naming conventions.

He died in 1926, but his legacy continued through his specimen collections, publications, and correspondence, which remain valuable to historians of botany and mycology. For readers encountering his work today, he stands out as both a careful collector and a lively, opinionated scientific voice.