Specials
Cummins Comments on
Arthur
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.
George B. Cummins, Purdue University professor emeritus and onetime head of the Department of Botany
and Plant Pathology, came to the university as a graduate student in 1930
and worked with Joseph C. Arthur in
the later years oi that distinguished
botanist's life.
Cummins, who also had a distinguished career at Purdue, received an
honorary doctor of agriculture degree
from the university in 1981, a few
years after his retirement. Like Arthur,
he was vitally interested in plant rusts,
a group of fungi which cause serious
diseases of such plants as wheat and
apples. Cummins served as curator of
the Arthur Herbarium from 1930 to
1968.
Cummins studied biology, taxonomy, and geographic distribution oi
rusts throughout his career and investigated plant, rusts from the Philippines. New Guinea, continental China,
the Himalayas, central and western
Africa, and from throughout North
and South America.
During his tenure at Purdue and,
since his retirement, at the University
of Arizona he has published nine
books. 1 10 journal papers, and more
than 600 taxonomic entries.
As a student and associate oi
Arthur's, Cummins prepared several
articles about the man. In discussing
the childhood ol the noted botanist in
one, he wrote that Arthur's earliest
interests involved flowering plants of
the Iowa prairies and that his strong
desire to become a botanist was neither
encouraged nor understood by his
parents.
Arthur's principal contributions
fell into three groupings, Cummins
noted. The first dealt with flowering
plants and covered a period from 1872
to 1884. The second, from 1885 to
1900. centered on plant diseases and
their control, and the third, from 1901
until 1936, focused on life cycles and
systematics of the rust fungi.
"With the arrival of the 20th century, Arthur's work took an abrupt
turn, as evidenced by the tact that in
the next 15 years, he published 64
papers dealing with the systematics of
the rust fungi and only 16 treating
other subjects,"Cummins once wrote.
"Followingformal retirement, he published 60 more papers."
This shift in emphasis probably
stemmed from an American Association for the Advancement of Science
meeting in New York in the 1890s,
Cummins related. At that time Arthur
was advised he probably would be
asked to supply manuscripts covering
rust fungi for a forthcoming publication by the New York Botanical Garden. The publication was to include
systematic descriptions of all North
American plants. This honor did come
to him. and he was prepared.
Also beneficial to research on rust
fungi was the establishment of the
Adams Lunds by Congress. These
funds were designated for support of
research and a portion was made
available for the rust project.
Cummins also wrote: "It is difficult to determine Arthur's most valuable contribution to knowledge of
rust fungi. Certainly one important
segment would be the inoculations of
plants, under controlled conditions,
aimed at determining life cycles and
the host plants involved." But Arthur
also contributed to knowledge of the
numbers of rust fungi through his
taxonomic studies, Cummins said.
Although not the largest collection of plant rust fungi, the herbarium
at Purdue is the most studied, Cummins reported. North American specimens predominate but there is extensive material from South America,
Africa, the Philippines, New Guinea,
Japan, and China. Arthur and his
associates left thousands of measurements, drawings, and notes with the
specimens. More recently, hundreds
of photomicrographs have been added.
The specimens used for and resulting
from inoculations also are in the herbarium with the relevant data.
Arthur's work was recognized
worldwide and certainly enhanced the
reputation of Purdue as much as that
of any man of his time, Cummins
observed.
Source: Joe Hennen and John McCain
(317)494-4623
Editor:  Ed Kirkpatrick
George Cummins, curator of the
Arthur Herbarium from 1930 to
1968, uses a microscope to study rust
on plant specimen. Cummins, now
retired, is a recognized authority on
plant rust. He was head of Purdue's
Botany and Plant Pathology
Department from 1966-69.
32
Purdue
UNIVERSITY