Remembering Norman Taylor and his Botanical Legacy: the Garden Dictionary

"In his early 20s, Norman was hired to work at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) by its founder, Nathaniel Lord Britton.

It was a lucky break for Norman as Brittain became his tutor in Botany, taking Norman along on expeditions to the Caribbean."

November 7, 2019

On this day, The Daily Times, out of Salisbury, Maryland, reported the death of botanist and author Norman Taylor, who died on November 5th.

Norman immigrated from England with his parents when he was a little boy. He was very sickly and was not able to stay in school.

In his early 20s, Norman was hired to work at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) by its founder, Nathaniel Lord Britton. It was a lucky break for Norman as Brittain became his tutor in Botany, taking Norman along on expeditions to the Caribbean.

Norman also worked as the curator of plants at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where he came up with the idea of a Garden Dictionary.

Norman's obituary mentioned the dictionary as a big part of his botanical legacy:

Besides writing over a dozen books and articles by the score on botany, Mr. Taylor is responsible for what he considered a "terrific undertaking."

This was the amount of work required in framing 33,000 botanical definitions for Webster's New International Dictionary, second edition, published by Houghton, Mifflin Co. 1933-36.