Introduction
Maxwell Tylden Masters FRS (15 April 1833 – 30 May 1907) was an English botanist and taxonomist. He was the son of William Masters, the nurseryman and botanist of Canterbury and author of Hortus duroverni.
Life
He was educated at King's College London and the University of St Andrews. He attended the lectures of Edward Forbes and John Lindley.
His most famous works are perhaps Vegetable Teratology, which dealt with teratology (abnormal mutations) of vegetable species, and several works on Chinese plants (particularly conifers), describing many of the new species discovered by Ernest Henry Wilson.
The larch Larix mastersiana and the Nepenthes hybrid N. × mastersiana are named after him, among other plant species.
He was the editor of the Gardeners' Chronicle between 1866–1907, which led to him corresponding with Charles Darwin.
He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1870. He was made a correspondent of the Institute of France in 1888. He was also a chevalier of the order of Leopold.
He died at the Mount, Ealing, on 30 May 1907. His body was cremated at Woking.
Family
In 1858 he married Ellen, daughter of William Tress, by whom he had four children. His wife and two daughters survived him.