James Mascall Morrison Crombie

Crombie was born in Aberdeen sometime in 1831, and attended Marischal College. He went on to earn his M.A. from Edinburgh University. His first publication was a small volume on the natural history Braemar in 1861.Miscellaneous Notes. (1906). Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew), 1906(6), 224-240. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4113212 In 1862, Crombie became an ordained minister in the Church of Scotland. He was named Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1869.{{cite book|chapter=CROMBIE, Rev. James Crombie|title=Dictionary of British and Irish botanists and horticulturists|author=Desmond, Ray|year=1994|page=179|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0850668433}} He began to publish his accounts of British lichens in 1870. Between 1874 and 1877 he edited and distributed his exsiccata Lichenes Britannici exsiccati.{{cite web |title=Lichenes Britannici exsiccati: IndExs ExsiccataID=197738468 |website=IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae |publisher=Botanische Staatssammlung München |url=https://www.botanischestaatssammlung.de/DatabaseClients/IndExs/Exsiccatae_IndExs_Details.jsp?ExsiccataID=197738468 |access-date=19 July 2024}}

In 1879, Crombie was hired as a lecturer on botany at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, where he continued his studies on lichens. He determined specimens brought to him by travelers, and he delved into the herbaria of Johann Jacob Dillenius and William Withering. Many of his determinations were housed in the herbarium at Kew. Crombie, along with his friend William Nylander, rejected the symbiotic theory of lichens, which he passionate wrote about.

In 1891, Crombie left St Mary's and moved to London. He held various positions, including clerk to the synod in England. He retired in 1903, and died at Ewhurst, Surrey, on 12 May 1906.

Crombie was posthumously included in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. Articles attributed to this author are designated by the initials "J. M. C."

Between 1861 and 1901, Crombie had over 50 published contributions on British lichens, including accounts on those of Epping Forest, Middlesex, and Norfolk.Biographies & obituaries. Ainsworth, G.C. Brief Biographies of British Mycologists p. 50, 1996.

• {{cite book|last1=Crombie|first1=James Morrison|title=Braemar: Its Topography and Natural History|year=1861|publisher=John Smith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gmULAAAAYAAJ}}
• {{cite book|last1=Crombie|first1=James Morrison|last2=Smith|first2=Annie Lorrain|authorlink2=Annie Lorrain Smith|title=A monograph of lichens found in Britain|year=1894|location=London|publisher=British Museum (Natural History)|volume=Part I|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=USJVAAAAMAAJ}}
• {{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Annie Lorrain|last2=Crombie|first2=James M.|title=A Monograph of Lichens Found in Britain: Being a Descriptive Catalogue of the Species in the Herbarium of the British Museum, Volume 2|date=1911|publisher=London, Trustees of the British Museum|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fvZ_3mE0ZwAC}}
• {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Lichens}} (in part)

• :Category:Taxa named by James Mascall Morrison Crombie

1.{{note|a}}Crombie claims he was born in 1833, but his widow stated he was born on 20 April 1830. Baptism records point to some time in 1831.

• {{cite journal|title=The preparation and publication of James Crombie's A monograph of lichens found in Britain (1894), as documented in his letters to William Nylander|journal=Archives of Natural History|year=2003|author=Mitchell, M. E.|volume=30|issue=1|pages=40–55|url=http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/pdf/10.3366/anh.2003.30.1.40|doi=10.3366/anh.2003.30.1.40}}

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Category:1831 births

Category:1906 deaths

Category:20th-century Scottish botanists

Category:19th-century Scottish botanists

Category:British lichenologists

Category:Fellows of the Linnean Society of London

Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh