Sereno Watson (1826–92)

American botanist. Graduated, Yale College, 1847, then studied medicine and taught in various schools. Studied chemistry and mineralogy at Yale’s Sheffield Scientific School. Joined Clarence King’s US Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel as a general assistant, 1867; appointed botanist, 1868. Collected plants in Nevada and Utah and completed a report on the collection at Harvard. Curator of the herbarium, Harvard, 1874–92; instructor in phytology, 1881–3. Described numerous plant species and worked on several taxonomic revisions of plant genera and families. Co-author of the Botany of California (1876–80).