Daniel Howard Norris (1933 – September 30, 2017) was an American
botanist
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
dedicated to the study of
mosses
Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and horn ...
, and was a renowned expert on the
California bryoflora.
Career
Norris received his
B.S. in botany from
Michigan State University
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
in 1954. In 1964, he obtained his
Ph.D. from the
University of Tennessee in botany, advised by
Jack Sharp.
While there, he was a member of
Sigma Xi.
Norris became a professor of botany at
Humboldt State University in 1967. Between 1984 and 1985, Norris was a Fulbright Research Scholar at the
University of Helsinki. In 1990, Norris was awarded with an honorary Ph.D. by the University of Helsinki. After his retirement in 1991, he transferred his extensive brylogical collection to the
University of California, Berkeley to continue his research.
Throughout his lifetime, Norris collected about 116,000 bryophyte specimens. His main areas of focus were in California and
Papua New Guinea, however, he made major collections on every continent other than
Antarctica.
Norris described four moss
genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...
as new to science; ''
Bryolawtonia'', ''
Orthothuidium'', ''
Stoneobryum'', and ''
Unclejackia
''Unclejackia'' is a genus of mosses belonging to the family Brachytheciaceae.
The species of this genus are found in Indonesia. The genus was named for Jack Sharp
John Sharp (15 February 1878 – 28 January 1938) was an English sportsman ...
''. He has also authored or co-authored the following new
species: ''Anomobryum hyalinum'', ''Amomobryum ochii'', ''Brachymenium wabagense'', ''Brachymenium huonii'', ''Bryum pseudoblandum'', ''Dicranella papua-palustris'', ''Dicranum cutlackii'', ''Didymodon coffeatus'', ''Didymodon wisselii'', ''Diphyscium chiapense'', ''Hampeella concavifolia'', ''Hyophila streimannii'', ''Leptocladiella flagellaris'', ''Macrocoma gastonyi'', ''Merrilliobryum tanianum'', ''Microdus friedensis'', ''Orthotrichum kellmanii'', ''Orthotrichum shevockii'', ''Orthotrichum spjutii'', ''Oxystegus crassicostatus'', ''Plagiomnium cordatum'', ''Powellia parvula'', ''Rhamphidium novoguineensis'', ''Splachnobryum limbatum'', ''Stereophyllum dicksonii'', ''Syrrhopodon curticancellinatus'', and ''Trematodon papuensis''.
Legacy
Norris is the namesake of two genera: ''
Bryonorrisia'' and ''
Timodania''; 1 flowering plant species: ''
Brongniartia norrisii''; and 12 bryophyte species: ''Aphanolejeunea norrisii'', ''Codriophorus norrisii'', ''Didymodon norrisii'', ''Lepicolea norrisii'', ''Macromitrium norrisianum'', ''Orthotrichum norrisii'', ''Pogonatum norrisii'', ''Radula norrisii'', ''Scopelophila norrisii'', ''Trematodon norrisii'', ''Orthotrichum norrisii'', and ''Trematodon norrisii''.
The
daylily cultivar ''Hemerocallis'' 'Daniel Howard Norris' also bears his name.
Selected publications
*
Koponen, T. & Norris, D. H. 1983: Bryophyte flora of the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea. I. Study area and its bryological exploration. – Ann. Bot. Fennici 20: 15-29.
*Norris, D. H. 1997: The Oregon-California border: Important in Bryogeography. – J. Hattori Bot. Lab. 82: 185-189.
*Norris, D. H. 2003: A conversation about mosses, liverworts and hornworts. – Fremontia 31: 5-11.
*Norris, D.H. &
Shevock, J.R. 2004: Contributions toward a bryoflora of California: I. A specimen based catalogue of mosses. – Madroño 51: 1-131.
*Norris, D.H. & Shevock, J.R.. 2004: Contributions toward a bryoflora of California: II. A key to the mosses. – Madroño 51: 131-269.
*Norris, D.H., Koponen, T. &
Buck, W.R. 2008: Bryophyte flora of the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea. LXXI. Merrilliobryum (Myriniaceae, Musci. Ann. Bot. Fennici 45: 269-276.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norris, Daniel H.
1933 births
2017 deaths
Bryologists
Botanists with author abbreviations
American botanists
Michigan State University alumni
University of Tennessee alumni
Humboldt State University faculty