William Baldwin (March 29, 1779 – September 1, 1819) was an American physician and botanist who is today remembered for his significant contributions to botanical studies, especially Cyperaceae.

[3] He published only two scientific papers,[4] but his major contributions were in the knowledge that he imparted to other botanists in his letters to them and in the thousands of specimens that he provided for their herbaria.

When he died, he left a large herbarium that proved to be of great value, especially to Lewis David von Schweinitz, John Torrey, and Asa Gray.

[6] He had a special interest in the plant family Cyperaceae[7] and his incomplete, unpublished manuscripts were a major source for monographs by John Torrey and Asa Gray.

[8][9] The historian Joseph Ewan has said that "Baldwin's treatment of a number of genera, especially in the Cyperaceae, showed penetrating observation, understanding, and diagnosis".

Thus began the young Baldwin's lifelong enthusiasm for botany[3] In 1802, he took one course in medicine at the University of Tennessee, but soon ran out of money, and returned to his studies under Dr.

[3] Before the end of 1807, he had moved to Wilmington, Delaware and married Hannah Webster, a young lady who had far more education than most women of her time.

Doctor Hiester, the present physician of the Lazaretto, informs me that you are a great friend of Botany...[11]Thus began an enduring friendship and a correspondence that eventually consisted of 90 letters, continuing to the death of Dr. Muhlenberg in 1815.

[3] In Wilmington, Baldwin's health continued to deteriorate, and in the autumn of 1811, he moved to Georgia to avoid the severity of the northern winters.

In his biographical sketch of Baldwin, Darlington writes: With a knapsack on his back, he made several journeys on foot, and sometimes entirely alone, far within the territory of the Indians: and such was his gentle, inoffensive demeanor, among these Children of the Forest, that he completely secured their good will, and uniformly experienced from them the kindest and most friendly treatment.

[15] Because of his reputation as a botanist, Baldwin was selected to sail on the frigate USS Congress as a botanical investigator as well as the ship's surgeon.

During its voyage, Congress stopped at the ports of Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Maldonado, San Salvador, Brazil, and Margarita Island, Venezuela.

After Baldwin returned to Wilmington in July 1818, he planned to study the large collection of plants that he had accumulated, and he began to prepare manuscripts for publication.

He exchanged letters with Zaccheus Collins and William Darlington on Cyperus, Scirpus, and Rhynchospora, members of the family Cyperaceae that he was preparing a treatment of.

The U.S. government was preparing an expedition, to be led by Major Stephen Long, to explore the upper reaches of the Missouri River.

William Darlington and John Eatton Le Conte recommended Baldwin as the botanist for this mission and urged him to go.

William Baldwin dropped his work on the grasses Panicum and Paspalum to accept the appointment as botanist on Major Long's expedition.

The following October, William Darlington received a letter from John J. Lowry, which began as follows:[11] Franklin, Howard County, M. T. Sept. 15, 1819.

At the end of his biographical sketch of Baldwin, Darlington, in 1843, wrote: His gentle spirit forsook its frail tenement, in a region far remote from his anxious family, - and the wildflowers of the West, for more than twenty years, have been blooming on his lonely grave: But the recollection of his virtues continues to be fondly cherished by every surviving friend, - and his ardor in the pursuit of his favorite Science will render his memory forever dear to the true lovers of American Botany.In January 1844, Lowry wrote to Darlington to tell him that the grave of his friend had been washed away by the floodwaters of the Missouri.

His only other paper was read before a meeting of the American Philosophical Society on April 16, 1819 as he made his way down the Ohio River,[3] but it was not published until 1825.

[19] One of the concerns of botany in the early 21st century is the location of type specimens, the material that formed the basis of the description that was given when the plant was named.

For example, a set of 18 specimens that Baldwin gave to the American Philosophical Society in March 1819 was neglected, probably because of its small size, and was not studied until 1978.

Collins was a Philadelphia merchant who knew as much botany as anyone, but to the exasperation of botanists of his time, chose to create one of the best herbaria in the United States, but published nothing.

[21] The historian Ronald L. Stuckey has found that Thomas Nuttall, Stephen Elliott, Asa Gray, John Torrey, and Constantine Rafinesque together published at least 109 new species based on material provided by William Baldwin.

[6] Twelve of these descriptions were actually written by Baldwin, and published by Stephen Elliott in Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgia.

[10] At the bottom of the page where Balduina is described, we find the footnote: Dedicated as a just tribute of respect for the talents and industry of William Baldwyn [sic], M.D., late of [i.e. formerly residing in] Savannah, in Georgia: a gentleman whose botanical zeal and knowledge has rarely been excelled in America.John Torrey and Asa Gray changed Balduina to Baldwinia in 1840,[22] but this orthographical variant was not generally accepted.

[25][26] At least six other plants, including Fimbristylis annua, Dichanthelium ensifolium, Ptelea trifoliata, Silene catesbaei, Symphyotrichum undulatum, and Viguiera (Rhysolepis) anchusifolia have had names that honored Baldwin, but these are no longer in use.