(6 January 1821 – 1 April 1907)
The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Herbarium has cataloged a single fungal specimen – Ustilago zeae (Beckm.) Ung. – collected by Calvin Josiah Cowles. However, as he is a very interesting gentleman, he gets a collector page!
Cowles single mycological collection was included in the Mycological Exchange of 1921, so several herbaria (Cornell University : CUP, New York Botanical Garden: NY, United States National Fungus Collections, USDA-ARS: BPI, and University of Arizona: ARIZ) have portions of that single specimen.
The University of Nebraska (NEB) curates a specimen of Leucothoe fontanesiana (Ericaceae) collected by Cowles in February, 1894 from Wilkes County, North Carolina. It is currently the only vascular plant specimen collected by Cowles known in an herbarium.
For an excellent overview of Calvin Josiah Cowles’ life and many activities, see Ellen Mcgrew’s 1979 entry in the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, edited by William S. Powell.