Edward Macarthur Bowman (1826-1872)

Obituary
THE LATE MR. BOWMAN. — Amongst those who have contributed to the advancement of botanical soience in Australia, the name of Mr. Edward Macarthur Bowman should be remembered with gratitude, for the specimens which he collected in N. E. Australia have proved highly serviceable to the learned authors of the Flora Australienses. In the introduction to the first volume of that work, Mr. Bentham expresses his obligation to Mr. Bowman for his collections in Queensland ; and Baron F. von Mueller, in a recent letter, characterises him a most disinterested collector, who will be muoh missed. This indefatigable naturalist was the discoverer of Ptychosperma Alexandræ, one of the most splendid palms in Australia, a figure and description of which will be found in the fifth volume of Baron Mueller's Fragmenta. He was also the first to collect Ricocarpus Bowmani, Pimelea Bowmani, and many other interesting plants; and it was principally through his exertions that the properties of Gastralobium grandiforum, the poison pea of the Flinders, were investigated. Mr. Bowman was the eldest son of the late Dr. Bowman, formerly at the head of the medical department in this colony, and at one time he held an official appointment under the Government of New South Wales. For some years past he resided in various parts ol N. E. Australia, devoting much of his leisure time to the collection of new and rate plants, and corresponding with Baron Mueller and other scientific gentlemen in these colonies. Mr. Bowman suffered very much a few months since from fever and ague, occasioned in some measure by exertion in the bush and exposure to an almost tropical climate. The weakness resulting from this attack, and subsequently from one of dysentery, appears to haye been the immediate cause of the lamented gentleman's death.

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