Herbert Louis (''né'' Lewis) Mason (1896–1994) was an American botany professor, plant collector, and herbarium director. After graduating from high school, Herbert Mason and his identical twin brother matriculated at Stanford University. Their education was interrupted when they both volunteered for military service in WW I and served in a U.S. Army hospital in

Beaune, France Beaune () is the wine capital of Burgundy in the Côte d'Or department in eastern France. It is located between Lyon and Dijon. Beaune is one of the key wine centers in France, and the center of Burgundy wine production and business. The ann ...

. After the end of the war, Herbert Mason returned to Stanford University and received his bachelor's degree there in 1921. He became a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley (U.C. Berkeley) and received an M.A. there in 1923. From 1923 to 1925 he taught at Mills College. From 1925 to 1931 Mason was employed as an associate in Willis L. Jepson's Phenogamic Laboratory. In 1932 he received his Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley. His thesis committee consisted of W. L. Jepson (as committee chair),

Ralph Works Chaney Ralph Works Chaney (August 24, 1890 – March 3, 1971) was an American paleobotanist. Early life Chaney was born on August 24, 1890 in Brainerd, Illinois. He attended Hyde Park Academy High School, and began to cultivate his interest in ornith ...

, and

Charles Lewis Camp Charles Lewis Camp (March 12, 1893 Jamestown, North Dakota – August 14, 1975 San Jose, California) was a palaeontologist and zoologist, working from the University of California, Berkeley. He took part in excavations at the 'Placerias Quarry', in ...

. In 1932 Mason participated in an expedition to the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. At

Jepson Herbarium The University and Jepson Herbaria are two herbaria that share a joint facility at the University of California, Berkeley holding over 2,200,000 botanical specimens, the largest such collection on the US West Coast. These botanical natural histo ...

and jointly in U.C. Berkeley's botany department, Mason was appointed in 1933 assistant curator and instructor, in 1934 associate curator and assistant professor, in 1938 (full) curator and associate professor, in 1941 herbarium director and (full) professor, retiring in 1963 with emeritus status. The years of Mason's directorship were a time of rapid growth for Jepson Herbarium. From 1935 to 1963 he was a member of the board of editors of the journal Madroño, where he was assisted for many years by

Annetta Mary Carter Annetta Mary Carter (June 28 1907 – May 8, 1991) was an American botanist. Early life Carter was born on June 28, 1907, in Sierra Madre, California. After the death of her mother, Carter's father spent the summers working in the San Gabriel ...

Ethel Katherine Crum Ethel Katherine Crum (1886-1943) 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 th ...

, and

Helen Sharsmith Helen Katherine Myers Sharsmith (August 26, 1905 – November 10, 1982) was an American biologist. Biography Helen Sharsmith was born 1905 in Oakland, California. She received an AB and MA from University of California, Berkeley in 1927 an ...

. In 1949 he became one of the founders of the Regional Parks Association, which has the stated goal of protecting natural resource in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. For volume 3 of the 4-volume series ''Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States'' by LeRoy Abrams, Mason wrote the section on the phlox family Polemoniaceae except for the genus ''

Polemonium ''Polemonium'', commonly called Jacob's ladders or Jacob's-ladders (the name derived from the Biblical story), is a genus of between 25 and 40 species of flowering plants in the family Polemoniaceae, native to cool temperate to arctic regions o ...

'', which was written by John Fraser Davidson, and the genus ''

Gilia ''Gilia'' is a genus of between 25 and 50 species of flowering plants in the Polemoniaceae family and is related to phlox. These Western native plants are best sown in sunny, well-draining soil in the temperate and tropical regions of the Ameri ...

'', which Mason wrote jointly with Alva Day Grant. In preparing his manuscript for volume 3, Mason found that 5 five species of ''

Navarretia ''Navarretia'' is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants related to the phloxes and the gilias. This is one genus of plants, among others, which are sometimes called pincushionplants. The inflorescence which bears the flowers is surroun ...

'' were scientifically undescribed. He collected plants in California, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, Colombia, and Mexico's Revillagigedo Islands. In May 1931 in Skagit County, Washington he married Lucile Roush (1896–1986), who was a student along with him at both Stanford and Berkeley. She received her Ph.D. from U. C. Berkeley with a thesis on coralline algae. When he retired in 1963 they moved to Washington state in order to be near their son David Thomas Mason, who was a professor at Western Washington University.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Herbert Louis 1896 births 1994 deaths 20th-century American botanists Plant collectors Stanford University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni University of California, Berkeley faculty American expatriates in France