John William Harshberger, (January 1, 1869 – April 27, 1929) 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 ...

who specialized in plant geography, ecology and plant pathology. He taught at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

for more than 35 years. He was an ardent plant conservationist and he is credited with coining the term ''"

ethnobotany Ethnobotany is the study of a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for m ...

"''.Haut (1997)

Biography

Harshberger was born January 1, 1869 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, the son of Abram Harshberger and Jane Harris Walk Harshberger. His father was a physician and Civil War veteran. He became interested in plants as a young child and made a small herbarium at age seven. He graduated from Central High School and entered the

in 1888. During the summer of 1890 he studied at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. Harshberger received his bachelor's degree in 1892 and a doctorate in 1893. His doctorate thesis, "Maize: a Botanical and Economic Study", asserted that maize evolved from

teosinte ''Zea'' is a genus of flowering plants in the grass family. The best-known species is ''Z. mays'' (variously called maize, corn, or Indian corn), one of the most important crops for human societies throughout much of the world. The four wild sp ...

, a Mexican grass; his theory has since been widely accepted. In 1893 Harshberger was hired as an instructor of botany, biology, and zoology at the

. He was made an assistant professor in botany in 1907 and promoted to full professor in 1911, a position he held for the rest of his life. In addition to his duties at the University, Harshberger taught nature studies at Pocono Pines Assembly, a summer school program patterned after the

Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua bro ...

adult education movement. He was also the head professor of ecology at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Cold Springs Harbor from 1913–1922. In 1907 he married Helen B. Cole from Trenton, New Jersey; they had two daughters. During his career, Harshberger made notable contributions across a wide variety of botanical topics. He performed outstanding research work in mycology and plant pathology and was one of the first to recognize the threat posed by the chestnut-blight fungus.''National Cyclopædia'' (1931) He also did work in the areas of economic botany, plant geography, conservation, ecology, and floristics. His most significant contribution was probably the monumental ''Phytographic Survey of North America'' (1911, 800 pages), an early attempt to classify and map plant communities in North America. It was considered an impressive accomplishment for one botanist to synthesize all the floristic and vegetative literature for North America. He also wrote the popular and influential, ''Vegetation of the New Jersey Pine-Barrens'', which described the unique area in a manner accessible to the public and brought attention to its importance in conservation. Harshberger traveled widely to study and collect plants. He did botanical work throughout most of the United States and also traveled internationally to botanize in Mexico (1896), the West Indies (1901), Europe (1898, 1907 and 1923), South America (1927) and northern Africa (1928). He was a member of more than 25 scientific and conservation organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Philosophical Society, the Botanical Society of America, and the American Forestry Association. During the last ten years of his life he was an active participant in the Wildflower Preservation Society and other groups concerned with conservation and nature preservation.Nichols (1930) Harshberger died of a heart attack on April 27, 1929 in Philadelphia. He is buried in the

West Laurel Hill Cemetery West Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1869, is 200 acres in size and contains the burials of many notable people. It is affiliated with Laurel Hill Cemetery in neighboring Ph ...

, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

Publications

Harshberger authored more than 300 papers covering a wide variety of topics. Some of his most notable titles include: *The Botanists of Philadelphia and Their Work (1899) *A Phytogeographic Survey of North America (1911) *The Vegetation of South Florida (1914) *The Vegetation of the New Jersey Pine Barrens (1916) *A Textbook of Mycology and Plant Pathology (1917) *Colored Wall Map Vegetation of North America (1919) *A Textbook of Pastoral and Agricultural Botany (1920)

Notes

References

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External links

Guide to the John William Harshberger Papers 1886-1929
University of Pennsylvania * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harshberger, John William 1869 births 1929 deaths University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty Scientists from Philadelphia American botanists Ethnobotanists Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni