Howard James Banker was an American mycologist

Mycology

Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans as a source for tinder, medicinals , food and entheogens, as well as their dangers, such as poisoning or...

. He received his PhD from Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 in 1908. Banker was an associate editor of the journal Mycologia

Mycologia

Mycologia is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes papers on all aspects of the fungi, including lichens. It first appeared as a bimonthly journal in January of 1909, published by the New York Botanical Garden under the editorship of William Murrill. It became the official journal of...

starting from its establishment in 1909, until it became the official publication of the Mycological Society of America

Mycological Society of America

The Mycological Society of America is a learned society that serves as the professional organization of mycologists in the U.S. and Canada. It was founded in 1932...

 in 1933. He published several papers in the journal, including a revision of the North American Hydnaceae

Hydnaceae

The Hydnaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. Originally the family encompassed all species of fungi that produced basidiocarps having a hymenium consisting of slender, downward-hanging tapering extensions referred to as "spines" or "teeth", whether they were related or not...

, which discussed 62 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 in 10 genera

Genera

Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...

. Banker died at his home in Huntington, New York

Huntington, New York

The Town of Huntington is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York, USA. Founded in 1653, it is located on the north shore of Long Island in northwestern Suffolk County, with Long Island Sound to its north and Nassau County adjacent to the west. Huntington is part of the New York metropolitan...

, in 1940.

Selected publications

• Banker JH. 1902. A Historical Review of the Proposed Genera of the Hydnaceae. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Vol. 29, No. 7, pp. 436–448
• _________. 1909. A New Fungus of the Swamp Cedar. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Vol. 36, No. 6, pp. 341–343
• _________. 1912. Type Studies in the Hydnaceae II. The Genus Steccherinum. Mycologia, Vol. 4, No. 6, pp. 309–318
• _________. 1912. Type Studies in the Hydnaceae: I. The Genus Manina. Mycologia, Vol. 4, No. 5, pp. 271–278
• _________. 1913. Type Studies in the Hydnaceae: V. The Genus Hydnellum. Mycologia, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 194–205
• _________. 1913. Type Studies in the Hydnaceae III. The Genus Sarcodon. Mycologia, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 12–17
• _________. 1913. Type Studies in the Hydnaceae: VI. The Genera Creolophus, Echinodontium, Gloiodon, and Hydnodon. Mycologia, Vol. 5, No. 6, pp. 293–298
• _________. 1913. Type Studies in the Hydnaceae: IV. The Genus Phellodon. Mycologia, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 62–66
• _________. 1914. Type Studies in the Hydnaceae: VII. The Genera Asterodon and Hydnochaete. Mycologia, Vol. 6, No. 5, pp. 231–234
• _________. 1929. Notes on the Hydnaceae. Mycologia, Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 145–150