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, and was a renowned expert on the

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

bryoflora.

Career

Norris received his

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

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. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

in botany, advised by

Jack Sharp John Sharp (15 February 1878 – 28 January 1938) was an English sportsman who is most famous for his eleven-season playing career at Everton from 1899–1910. It saw him win two caps for his country, as well as being a cricketer for Lancash ...

. While there, he was a member of

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is a highly prestigious, non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a small group of graduate students in 1886 ...

. Norris became a professor of botany at

Humboldt State University California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt also known as Cal Poly Humboldt, Humboldt or Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California or California State Polytechnic Universi ...

in 1967. Between 1984 and 1985, Norris was a Fulbright Research Scholar at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

. 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 The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

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 Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

, however, he made major collections on every continent other than

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

. 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 ''Bryolawtonia'' is a monotypic genus of mosses belonging to the family Neckeraceae. It only contains one known species, ''Bryolawtonia vancouveriensis'' Norris & Enroth, 1990 The species of this genus are found in Northern America. The genus ...

'', '' Orthothuidium'', '' Stoneobryum'', and '' Unclejackia''. He has also authored or co-authored the following new

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

: ''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 ''Brongniartia'' is a genus of leguminous plants, first named by Kunth after the French botanist Adolphe Brongniart ''Adolphe'' is a classic French novel by Benjamin Constant, first published in 1816. It tells the story of an alienated youn ...

''; 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 A daylily or day lily is a flowering plant in the genus ''Hemerocallis'' , a member of the family Asphodelaceae, subfamily Hemerocallidoideae. Despite the common name, it is not in fact a lily. Gardening enthusiasts and horticulturists have long ...

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