Job Bicknell Ellis

Job Bicknell Ellis (January 21, 1829 – December 30, 1905) was a pioneering North American mycologist known for his study of ascomycetes, especially the grouping of fungi called the Pyrenomycetes (known today as the Sordariomycetes). Born and raised in New York, he worked as a teacher and farmer before developing an interest in mycology. He collected specimens extensively, and together with his wife, prepared 200,000 sets of dried fungal samples that were sent out to subscribers in series between 1878 and 1894. Together with colleagues William A. Kellerman and Benjamin Matlack Everhart, he founded the Journal of Mycology in 1885, forerunner to the modern journal Mycologia. He described over 4000 species of fungi, and his collection of over 100,000 specimens is currently housed at the herbarium of the New York Botanical Gardens. Ellis had over 100 taxa of fungi named in his honor.

Life

Ellis was born in Potsdam, New York, on January 21, 1829, to parents Freeman Ellis and Sarah Bicknell. He was the tenth child of fourteen. In 1851, he graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York, the same institution attended by lichenologist Edward Tuckerman (A.B. 1837) and mycologist Charles Horton Peck (A.B. 1859). Bicknell began an erratic career as a classics teacher and farmer in New York, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. He became the principal of the Canton Academy in 1856, the same year he married Arvilla Jane Bacon, who became his lifelong assistant and collaborator. Their daughter Cora was born on January 12, 1857; she later became a professional musician in New York. It was around this time that Bicknell started developing his interest in botany, by collecting plants with fellow teachers on weekends. He saw a copy of Henry William Ravenel's Fungi Caroliniani Exsiccati, a set of dried specimens (exsiccata) collected and distributed from North Carolina and area. Ellis initiated a correspondence with Ravenel, and established a friendship that lasted until Ravenel's death in 1887. The most important of these were the Fungi Nova-Caesarienses (Fungi of New Jersey) (1878) and the North American Fungi, issued in Series I and Series II from 1878 to 1898. The complete set of North American Fungi numbered 3600 specimens. The obituary of his wife, who died on July 18, 1899, elaborated her devotion to his work: Besides binding many of her husband's books and pamphlets, she prepared some three thousand blank books in which the North American Fungi were issued and in which the greater part of the Ellis collection was mounted. Besides this she arranged at least three fourths of the 200,000 specimens which were issued in this exsiccata series and in the Fungi Columbiani, folding papers, inserting specimens, pasting labels and inserting in their places. He was also a prolific author, and published over 500 scientific articles. He died December 30, 1905, in Newfield. Jobellisia M.E. Barr 1993

Acanthostigma ellisii Sacc. & P. Syd. 1899 Aecidium ellisii Tracy & L.D. Galloway 1888 Albatrellopsis ellisii (Berk.) Teixeira 1994 Albatrellus ellisii (Berk.) Pouzar 1966 Alternaria ellisii Pandotra & Ganguly 1964 Annellophorella ellisii Reisinger & Kiffer 1970 Anthostoma ellisii Sacc. Ascochyta ellisii Thüm. Asterina ellisii Sacc. & P. Syd. 1899 Atractobolus ellisiella (Rehm) Kuntze 1898 Bactridium ellisii Berk. 1874 Bipolaris ellisii (Danquah) Alcorn 1983 Botrytis ellisii Sacc. & P. Syd. 1899 Bullaria ellisii (De Toni) Arthur & Mains Calathella ellisii Agerer 1983 Caliciopsis ellisii Sacc. Calycina ellisii (Dennis) Raitv. 2004 Capnodium ellisii Sacc. Cenangium ellisii Sacc. Cercospora ellisii Sacc. & P. Syd. 1899 Ceuthospora ellisii Sacc. & Trotter 1913 Chaetendophragmia ellisii (Piroz.) B. Sutton & Hodges 1978 Chaetomium ellisianum Sacc. & P. Syd. Chaetoplea ellisii (Sacc. & P. Syd.) M.E. Barr 1990 Chaetosphaeria ellisii (M.E. Barr) Huhndorf & F.A. Fernández 2005 Chalara ellisii Nag Raj & W.B. Kendr. 1975 Clasterosporium ellisii Sacc. & P. Syd. 1899 Clathrosphaerina ellisii Purohit, Panwar & N.L.Vyas 1974 Cochliobolus ellisii Alcorn 1983 Collybia ellisii (Murrill) Murrill 1917 Comatricha ellisii Morgan 1894 Coniochaeta ellisiorum P.F. Cannon Coniophora ellisii (Berk. & M.A. Curtis) Sacc. 1888 Coprinellus ellisii (P.D. Orton) Redhead, Vilgalys & Moncalvo 2001 Coprinus ellisii P.D. Orton 1960 Corticium ellisii (Berk. & M.A. Curtis) Cooke 1880 Coryne ellisii Berk. 1873 Cucurbitaria ellisii Sacc. & P. Syd. Curvularia ellisii S.I. Ahmed & M. Qureshi 1960 Cylindrosporium ellisii Halst. Cylindrotrichum ellisii Morgan-Jones 1977 Dacrymyces ellisii Coker 1920 Dacryopsis ellisiana Massee 1891 Dasyscyphus ellisianus (Rehm) Sacc. 1889 Dendryphion ellisii Cooke 1878 Diaporthe ellisii Rehm Dicaeoma ellisianum (Thüm.) Kuntze 1898 Dicaeoma ellisii (De Toni) Kuntze 1898 Didymostilbe ellisii A.S. Saxena & Mukerji 1970 Dimerosporium ellisii Sacc. Diplodina ellisii Sacc. Dothiora ellisii (M.E. Barr) Shoemaker & C.E. Babc. 1987 Dothiorella ellisii Arx 1957 Drechslera ellisii Danquah 1975 Endophragmiella ellisii S. Hughes 1979 Engizostoma ellisii Kuntze 1898 Entoleuca ellisii Y.M. Ju, J.D. Rogers & H.M. Hsieh 2005 Entyloma ellisii Halst. 1890 Entylomella ellisii (Halst.) Cif. 1959 Erynia ellisiana Ben Ze'ev 1986 Erysiphe ellisii (U. Braun) U. Braun & S. Takam. 2000 Fomes ellisianus F.W. Anderson 1891 Furia ellisiana (Ben Ze'ev) Humber 1989 Fusicoccum ellisianum Sacc. & P. Syd. 1899 Fusicoccum ellisii Petr. & Died. 1913 Glabrocyphella ellisiana W.B. Cooke 1961 Gloniopsis ellisii Cash 1939 Gymnopus ellisii Murrill 1917 Gymnosporangium ellisii Berk. 1879 Hamaspora ellisii (Berk.) Körn. 1877 Haplaria ellisii Cooke 1889 Helicosporium ellisii Cooke Hemiarcyria ellisii Massee 1889 Herpotrichia ellisii (Sacc. & P. Syd.) M.E. Barr 1992 Hydnum ellisianum Thüm. 1878 Hydnum ellisianum (Banker) Sacc. & Trotter 1912 Hymenochaete ellisii Berk. & M.A. Curtis 1876 Hymenoscyphus ellisii Dennis 1964 Hyphopolynema ellisiorum B. Sutton & Alcorn 1984 Kylindria ellisii (Morgan-Jones) DiCosmo, S.M. Berch & W.B. Kendr. 1983 Lachnella ellisiana (Rehm) Seaver 1951 Lasiosphaeria ellisii M.E. Barr 1993 Leptosphaeria ellisiana Berl. Lyophyllum ellisii (P.D. Orton) Cons. & Contu 2001 Macroplodia ellisii (Sacc.) Kuntze 1898 Melanopsamma ellisii Sacc. & P. Syd. 1899 Meliola ellisii Roum. 1880 Microscypha ellisii Dennis 1971 Microsphaera ellisii U. Braun 1982 Monochaetia ellisiana Sacc. & D. Sacc. 1906 Myxosporium ellisii Sacc. 1884 Nectria ellisii C. Booth 1959 Niptera ellisii Rehm Nodulisporium ellisii (Sacc. & P. Syd.) S. Hughes 1958 Odontia ellisiana (Thüm.) Rick 1933 Ophiobolus ellisianus Berl. Peniophora ellisii Massee 1889 Perenniporia ellisiana (F.W. Anderson) Gilb. & Ryvarden 1985 Periconia ellisii P.Rag. Rao & D. Rao 1964 Periconiella ellisii Merny & B. Huguenin 1962 Pestalotia ellisii Sacc. & P. Syd. 1899 Peziza ellisiana Rehm Phellodon ellisianus Banker 1906 Phillipsiella ellisii M.E. Barr 1993 Phragmidium ellisii (Berk.) Sacc. 1888 Phyllosticta ellisiana Lambotte & Fautrey 1894 Phyllosticta ellisii Sacc. & P. Syd. 1899 Pithomyces ellisii V.G. Rao & Chary 1972 Pleospora ellisii Wehm. 1961 Pleurage ellisiana Griffiths 1901 Plochmopeltis ellisii Arx 1959 Podisoma ellisii (Berk.) Mussat 1874 Podospora ellisiana (Griffiths) Mirza & Cain 1970 Polynema ellisii B. Sutton Polypilus ellisii (Berk.) Teixeira 1992 Polyporus ellisianus (Murrill) Sacc. & Trotter 1912 Polyporus ellisii Berk. 1878 Polystictus ellisianus Lloyd 1920 Poria ellisiana (F.W. Anderson) Ginns 1984 Pseudocercospora pamelae-ellisiae (G.P. Agarwal & N.D. Sharma) U. Braun 1999 Psilachnum ellisii (Dennis) E. Weber & Baral 1992 Puccinia ellisiana Thüm. 1878 Puccinia ellisii De Toni 1888 Pyrenopeziza ellisii Massee 1896 Rhabdospora ellisii Sacc. & P. Syd. 1899 Rhinocladiella ellisii D. Hawksw. 1977 (now Zasmidium cellare) Roestelia ellisii Peck 1875 Scindalma ellisianum (F.W. Anderson) Kuntze 1898 Sciniatosporium ellisii (M.B. Ellis) Morgan-Jones 1971 Scutiger ellisii (Berk.) Murrill 1903 Septoria ellisiana Sacc. & P. Syd. 1902 Septoria ellisii Berl. & Voglino 1886 Sordaria ellisiana (Griffiths) Sacc. & D. Sacc. 1905 Sorosporium ellisii G. Winter Sphaeropsis ellisii Sacc. 1884 Sporidesmium ellisii Piroz. 1972 Sporisorium ellisii (G. Winter) M. Piepenbr. 2003 Stigmina ellisiana B. Sutton 1972 Stigmina ellisii M.B. Ellis 1959 Stigmina pamelae-ellisiae G.P. Agarwal & N.D. Sharma 1974 Tephrocybe ellisii P.D. Orton 1988 Tetrabrunneospora ellisii Dyko 1978 Tetraploa ellisii Cooke 1879 Tomentella ellisii (Sacc.) Jülich & Stalpers 1980 Torula ellisii Yadav & Lal 1966 Trametes ellisiana Henn. 1895 Tyromyces ellisianus Murrill 1907 Uromyces ellisianus Henn. 1898 Volutella ellisii Langl. 1887 Wettsteinina ellisii M.E. Barr 1972 Zoophthora ellisiana (Ben Ze'ev) Balazy 1993 Zygodesmus ellisii Sacc. 1886