Lobb's buckwheat (Eriogonum lobbii) named after Cornish plant collector William Lobb

The plant Lobb's buckwheat (Eriogonum lobbii) of the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae) is named after the Cornish plant collector William Lobb, who was born in Cornwall around 1809 and died in San Francisco in 1864 [1,2]. In the 1840s Lobb was collecting plants in South America. He came to North America in 1849, where he continued plant collection in California at the height of the Gold Rush. Lobb's buckwheat, sometimes named granite buckwheat, is found in northern California; for example, on rocky slopes at high elevation along the Sierra Nevada crest.

Keywords: botanist, history, nomenclature, scientific name

References
[1] Joseph Ewan: William Lobb, plant hunter for Veitch and messenger of the big tree. University of California Press, Berkely, 1973. 
[2] Plant hunters - William Lobb [www.hatfield-herts.co.uk/features/gtree_lobb.html].