Description

Rev. Nathan Coleman (1825–1887) produced a catalogue of Michigan’s flora in 1874 under the
auspices of the Kent Scientific Institute in Grand Rapids. In this work, he validly published 31 new
varieties and four new species from Michigan and effected two new combinations at varietal rank.
Because little is known of his life and work, Internet searches of nineteenth century newspapers, periodicals, and books were undertaken to discover additional biographical data. Coleman spent most
of his career as a teacher. This included basic education for former slaves in Virginia during the Civil
War, employment at a public grammar school in Grand Rapids, founding a private high school in
Iowa, and serving on the faculty of an African-American college in Texas. His botanical output, aside
from the 1874 Michigan catalogue, comprised a series of short notes in Botanical Gazette during
1876-1878, most of which dealt with “variations” (as he termed them) observed in Connecticut and
Iowa. He also provided specimens to other botanists, including Alphonso Wood and James Nathaniel
Bishop