Edwin Butterworth Mains


Edwin Butterworth Mains was an American mycologist. He was known for his taxonomic research on the rust fungi, the genus Cordyceps, and the earth tongues.

Biography

Edwin Butterworth Mains was born on 31 March 1890 in Coldwater, Branch County, Michigan. The son of Benjamin W. and Mary Ann Mains. Mains began his undergraduate education at Michigan State University in 1909, but transferred to the University of Michigan in 1911. He earned his Ph.D. in botany from the University of Michigan in 1916 under the tutelage of Calvin Henry Kauffman while investigating the parasite-host relationships of various rust fungi. He was appointed Assistant Botanist at the Purdue University Agricultural Experimental Station by Joseph Charles Arthur in 1916. He married Mary Esther Elder on 16 August 1917 in East Lansing, Michigan. Mains was appointed acting director of the University of Michigan Herbarium following the illness of C.H. Kauffman in 1930 and was named director in 1931. Mains remained at the University of Michigan, both as a professor and as director of the Herbarium, until his retirement in 1960. Mains served as chair of the Department of Botany at Michigan during World War II. Mains remained in Ann Arbor following his retirement and died of a heart attack on 23 December 1968.
While at Michigan, Mains was active in the Ann Arbor Garden Club. Mains was highly interested in photography and was a noted and exhibited photographer of nature. Mains was prominent in the development and use of color photography in mycological education.

Mycological contributions

Mains' early professional career was dedicated to the study of plant rusts. He collaborated with Arthur and others on "The Plant Rusts " in 1929, a major treatment of an economically important group of fungi. Mains continued working on rusts after transferring to Michigan, though most of his later studies focused on Cordyceps and the Geoglossaceae. Mains' collections and research greatly enriched the University of Michigan Herbarium, which developed "from a position of obscurity to one of international prominence" under his directorship.
Mains was elected vice-president of the Mycological Society of America in 1938, and president in 1942. Mains also served the Mycological Society of America as a counselor from 1943-1944. Mains and C.L. Lundell investigated the flora of the high rain forest and mountain pine ridge in the southern El Cayo District, British Honduras in 1937.

Taxa described

Mains described a total of 80 new species, two new form, eleven new varieties, and made 20 new combinations of species. As of 2014, 55 of his species, both new forms, two varieties, and 18 recombinations are still accepted. Mains also described five genera, three of which were later reduced to synonymy.

Mycological lineage

Mains belongs to the C.H. Kauffman Lineage of American mycologists. Kauffman himself was influenced by Robert Almer Harper and George Francis Atkinson. During Mains' tenure at the University of Michigan, he mentored or advised thirteen prominent mycologists:
Mains' lineage of North American mycologists is large and widespread. Brodie, Fisher, Imshaug, Lowe, and Smith all mentored a number of students, including Joseph Ammirati, Howard E. Bigelow, Irwin M. Brodo, Robert Lee Gilbertson, Orson K. Miller Jr., and Harry Thiers, all of whom have been greatly influential in American mycology.

Eponymous taxa

  • Mainsia H.S. Jacks 1931 = Gerwasia Racib. 1909
  • Ravenelia mainsiana Arthur & Holw. 1918
  • Favolaschia mainsii Singer 1974
  • Galerina mainsii A.H. Sm. & Singer 1958
  • Gibellula mainsii Samson & H.C. Evans 1992

Publications

Mains authored or coauthored more than 90 research publications and books:
  • 1916. Mains EB. Report of the Michigan Academy of Science 17: 136-140.
  • 1916. ———. "The wintering of Coleosporum solidaginis". Phytopathology 6: 371-372.
  • 1917. ———. American Journal of Botany 4 : 179-220.
  • 1917. ———. "Species of Melampsora occurring on Euphorbia in North America". Phytopathology 7 101-105.
  • 1919. Arthur JC, Mains EB. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 46 : 411-415.
  • 1921. Mains EB. American Journal of Botany 8 : 442-451.
  • 1921. ———. Mycologia 13 : 315-322.
  • 1921. ———, Jackson HS. "Two strains of Puccinia triticina on wheat in the United States". Phytopathology 11: 40.
  • 1921. Jackson HS, Mains EB. Journal of Agricultural Research 22: 151-172.
  • 1922. Arthur JC, Mains EB. "Uredinales: Bullaria". North American Flora 7: 482-515.
  • 1923. Mains EB, Jackson HS. "Strains of the leaf rust of wheat, Puccinia triticina, in the United States". Phytopathology 13: 36.
  • 1923. Mains EB, Leighty CE. "Resistance in rye to leaf rust, Puccinia dispersa Erikss." Journal of Agricultural Research 25 : 243-252.
  • 1924. Mains EB. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Sciences 33: 241-257.
  • 1924. Mains EB, Jackson HS. "Aecial stage of the leaf rust of rye, Puccinia dispersa Erikss. and Hen., and of barley, P. anomala Rostr., in the United States". Journal of Agricultural Research 28 : 1119-1126.
  • 1925. Whetzel HH, Jackson HS, Mains EB. "The composite life history of Puccinia podophyli Schw." Journal of Agricultural Research 30: 65-79.
  • 1926. Mains EB. "Rye resistant to leaf rust, stem rust, and powdery mildew". Journal of Agricultural Research 32: 201-221.
  • 1926. ———. "Studies in rust resistance". Journal of Heredity 17 : 313-325.
  • 1926. ———, Jackson HS. "Physiologic specialisation in the leaf rust of Wheat, Puccinia triticina Erikas." Phytopathology 16 : 89-120.
  • 1926. Mains EB, Leighty CE, Johnston CO. "Inheritance of resistance to leaf rust, Puccinia tritica Erikss., in crosses of common wheat, Triticum vulgare Vill." Journal of Agricultural Research 32: 931-972.
  • 1927. Mains EB. "Observations concerning clover diseases". Proclamations of the Indiana Academy of Sciences 37: 355-364.
  • 1928. Mains EB, Thompson D. "Studies on snapdragon rust, Puccinia antirrhini". Phytopathology 18: 150.
  • 1928. ———. "Observations concerning disease of iris and tulips". Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Sciences 38: 93-102.
  • 1929. ———. "Physiologic specialization and species development and nomenclature". Proclamations of the Internal Congress of Plant Sciences, Ithaca, New York 1926 2: 1767-1770.
  • 1929. Arthur JC, Kern FD, Orton CR, Fromme FD, Jackson HS, Mains EB, Bisby GR. The plant rusts . John Wiley and Sons, London. 446 pp.
  • 1929. Gardner MW, Mains EB. "Indiana plant diseases". Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Sciences 39: 85-99.
  • 1930. Mains EB. "Host specialization of barley leaf rust Puccinia anamola". Phytopathology 20 : 873-882.
  • 1930. ———. "Effect of leaf rust on yield of wheat". Journal of Agricultural Research 40 : 417-446.
  • 1930. ———, Diktz SM. "Physiologic forms of Barley mildew, Erysiphe graminis hordei". Phytopathology 20 : 229-239.
  • 1931. Mains EB. Science 74 : 235.
  • 1931. ———. "Inheritance of resistance to rust, Puccinia sorghi, in maize." Journal of Agricultural Research 43: 419-430.
  • 1932. ———. Mycologia 24 : 207-214.
  • 1932. ———. Mycologia 24 : 265-267.
  • 1932. ———. "Host specialization in the leaf rust of grasses, Puccinia rubigo-vera". Papers from the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letter 17: 289-394.
  • 1933. ———. Mycologia 25 : 407-417.
  • 1933. ———. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 19 : 49-53.
  • 1934. ———. Mycologia 26 : 122-132.
  • 1934. ———. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 74 : 263-271.
  • 1934. ———. American Journal of Botany 21 : 23-33.
  • 1934. ———. "Host specialization of Puccinia sorghi". Phytopathology 24 : 405-411.
  • 1934. ———. "Inheritance of resistance to powdery mildew, Erysiphe graminis tritici, in wheat". Phytopathology 24 : 1257-1261.
  • 1935. ———. Mycologia 27: 638-641.
  • 1935. ———. "Rust resistance in Antirrhinum". Phytopathology 25 : 977-991.
  • 1935. ———. "Michigan fungi. I". Papers from the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters 20: 81-93.
  • 1935. ———. "Rusts and smuts from the Yucutan Peninsula". Publications, Carnegie Institute of Washington 461: 95-106.
  • 1936. ———. "Rusts from the lower Rio Grande valley, Texas". Papers from the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters 22: 153-157.
  • 1937. ———. Mycologia 29 : 674-677.
  • 1937. ———. "Host specialization in Coleosporium solidaginis and C. campanulae". Papers from the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters 23: 171-175.
  • 1938. ———. American Journal of Botany 25 : 677-679.
  • 1938. ———. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 65 : 625-629.
  • 1938. ———. "Additional studies concerning the rust of iris, Puccinia iridis". Phytopathology 28 : 67-71.
  • 1938. ———. Mycologia 30 : 42-45.
  • 1938. ———. Mycologia 30 : 243.
  • 1939. ———. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 66 : 173-179.
  • 1939. ———. Annales Mycologici 37 : 57-60.
  • 1939. ———. Mycologia 31 : 33-42.
  • 1939. ———. Mycologia 31 : 175-190.
  • 1939. ———. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 66 : 617-621.
  • 1939. ———. "Cordyceps from the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee". Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 55 : 117-129.
  • 1939. ———. Mycologia 31 : 232-234.
  • 1939. ———. "Rusts from British Honduras". Contributions from the University of Michigan Herbarium 1: 5-19.
  • 1939. ———, Overholts LO, Pomerleau R. Mycologia 31 : 728-736.
  • 1939. Mains EB. "Cordyceps species from Michigan". Papers from the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters 25: 79-84.
  • 1940. ———. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 67 : 705-709.
  • 1940. ———. Mycologia 32 : 310-320.
  • 1940. ———. American Journal of Botany 27 : 322-326.
  • 1940. ———. Mycologia 32 : 16-22.
  • 1940. ———. Mycologia 32 : 310-320.
  • 1941. ———. Mycologia 33 : 611-617.
  • 1942. ———. "Phlox resistant to powdery mildew". Phytopathology 32 : 414-418.
  • 1942. ———. Mycologia 34 : 601-605.
  • 1947. ———. Mycologia 39 : 535-545.
  • 1948. ———. Mycologia 40 : 402-416.
  • 1948. ———. Mycologia 40 : 717-723.
  • 1949. ———. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 76: 24-30.
  • 1949. ———. Mycologia 41 : 303-310.
  • 1950. ———. Mycologia 42 : 306-321.
  • 1950. ———. Mycologia 42 : 566-589.
  • 1951. ———. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 78 : 122-133.
  • 1952. ———. Mycologia 43 : 691-718.
  • 1953. ———. "Stilbum tomentosum". Papers from the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters 38: 45-51.
  • 1954. ———. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 81 : 492-500.
  • 1954. ———. Mycologia 46 : 586-631.
  • 1955. ———. Mycologia 47 : 846-877.
  • 1955. ———. "Some entomogenous species of Isaria". Papers from the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters 40: 23-32.
  • 1956. ———. Mycologia 48 : 410-419.
  • 1956. ———. Mycologia 48 : 694-710.
  • 1957. ———. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 84 : 243-251.
  • 1957. ———. "Information concerning species of Cordyceps and Ophionectria in the Lloyd Herbarium". Lloydia 20 : 219-227.
  • 1958. ———. Mycologia 50: 169-222.
  • 1959. ———. "North American species of Aschersonia parasitic on Aleyrodidae". Journal of Insect Pathology 1: 43-47.
  • 1959. ———. Mycopathologia et Mycologia Applicata 11: 311-326.
  • 1959. ———. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 86 : 46-58.
  • 1959. ———. "North American species of Aschersonia parasitic on Aleyrodidae". Journal of Insect Pathology 1 : 43-47.
  • 1960. ———. "Species of Aschersonia ". Lloydia 22 : 215-221.