Henry Roland Totten (November 6, 1892 - February 9, 1974) 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 ...

Biography

Totten was born in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

on November 6, 1892. He was the son of William Theophilus Totten of Rockingham County, North Carolina, minister, educator, and president of Yadkin Collegiate Institute (later Yadkin College) for twenty-six years. Totten graduated from

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

in 1913 and completed his graduate work under

William Chambers Coker William Chambers Coker (October 24, 1872 – June 26, 1953) was an American botanist and mycologist. Biography He was born at Hartsville, South Carolina on October 24, 1872. He graduated from South Carolina College in 1894 and took postgrad ...

. His academic career was spent as a faculty member of the Botany Department for fifty years, teaching general botany, dendrology, pharmacognosy, and plant taxonomy at the

. He assisted Coker in the establishment of the

Coker Arboretum Coker Arboretum (5.3 acres) is an arboretum within the North Carolina Botanical Garden on the campus of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The collection consists of a wide variety of plantings including flowering tre ...

in 1903. The university completed the Totten Center, named for him, in 1976 as the first permanent building in the

North Carolina Botanical Garden The North Carolina Botanical Garden (about , plus of nature preserves) is a botanical garden operated by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The primary goal of the Garden is to research, catalog, a ...

. Totten was a member of many scientific societies and the author of ''The Plant Life of Hartsville, S. C.'' (1912); ''The Trees of North Carolina'' (with William Coker) (1916). Besides these he contributed numerous articles on

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines * Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts * Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...

and botany to scientific journals. A hybrid oak, Quercus x totteni, was named in his honor. A specimen currently grows near the front entrance to the Totten Center at the North Carolina Botanical Garden. He died on February 9, 1974.

References

*Further materials are located in the Totten papers in the Southern Historical Collection, Manuscript Department, Wilson Library, and in the papers of the UNC Botany Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hil

*A bibliography of Totten's theses and publications has been assembled by Rhonda Teague Rogers and emended by William R. Burk. The best published source of biographical information on Totten is a memorial piece which appeared in the Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society, vol. 89, pp. 262–263

* Totten, H. R. (Henry Roland), 1892-197

* Totten, Henry Roland , NCpedi

*"Henry Roland Totten (1892-1974)." UNC-Biology, Herbarium. Ibiblio

*"A Nursery of Patriotism: The University at War." Exhibits, UNC Library

*Coker, William Chambers, and H. R. Totten. 1916. The trees of North Carolina. Chapel Hill .C. W.C. Coker

1892 births 1974 deaths 20th-century American educators American science writers People from Caswell County, North Carolina University of North Carolina alumni 20th-century American botanists {{US-scientist-stub