Willis Linn Jepson (August 19, 1867 – November 7, 1946) was an early California

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 ...

, conservationist, and writer.

Career

Born at Little Oak Ranch near Vacaville, California, Jepson became interested in botany as a boy and explored the adjacent San Francisco Bay Area. He came in contact with various botanists before he entered college. In 1892, at the age of 25, Jepson, John Muir, and Warren Olney formed the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

, in Olney's San Francisco law office. From 1895 to 1898, Jepson served as instructor in Botany and carried on research at the University of California, Berkeley, Cornell University (1895), and Harvard University (1896–1897). He received his Ph.D. at Berkeley in 1899. He was made assistant professor in 1899, associate professor in 1911, professor in 1918, and professor emeritus in 1937. He was a Professor of Botany at UC Berkeley for four decades, thus his entire career was identified with the University of California. Jepson founded the California Botanical Society and served as its president from 1913 to 1915; he also worked as councilor of the

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden The California Botanic Garden (formerly the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden) is a botanical garden in Claremont, California, in the United States, just south of the San Gabriel foothills. The garden, at , is the largest botanic garden in the sta ...

Legacy

Many honors and commemorations came to Jepson during his lifetime and as well as posthumously: * He was granted a fellowship to the California Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and American Geographical Society * Member of the American Genetic Association, American Society of Plant Taxonomists,

Botanical Society of America The Botanical Society of America (BSA) represents professional and amateur botanists, researchers, educators and students in over 80 countries of the world. It functions as a United States nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership society. History The soci ...

, Society of American Foresters, Washington Academy of Sciences,

Western Society of Naturalists The Western Society of Naturalists is a scientific organization with a strong focus on promoting the study of marine biology. Most of its members are on the Pacific coast of North America. Originally established in 1910 as the Biological Society of ...

, Phi Beta Kappa, and Sigma Xi * Foreign member of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

, Société linnéenne de Lyon, and Czechoslovak Botanical Society * Colleagues at UC Berkeley honored him with the Faculty Research Lectureship in 1934 * The Saxifragaceae genus ''

Jepsonia ''Jepsonia'' is a small genus of flowering plants containing three species. The ''Jepsonia'' is a perennial with a cormlike caudex A caudex (plural: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly ...

'' and its species are named after him * The

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 ...

at UC Berkeley is named for him * '' The Jepson Manual'' is named in his honor * California's

Jepson Peak Jepson Peak is a summit, west of San Gorgonio Mountain, in the San Gorgonio Wilderness. It is the second highest summit in Southern California, but most authors would not rank this peak because it has less than of prominence and does not quali ...

, Mount Jepson, and

Jepson Prairie Jepson Prairie is a remnant natural prairie in the Sacramento Valley of the U.S. state of California, surrounded by land used in agriculture. The prairie is managed by the University of California, Davis, the Solano Land Trust Solano may refe ...

are named after him * The oldest known living

laurel tree Laurel is part of the English common name of many trees and other plants, particularly those of the laurel family ('' Lauraceae''). Most laurels are highly poisonous. Plants called "laurel" include:See article for additional common names. * Alexa ...

in California is named after him."https://parks.smcgov.org/what-see-crystal-springs-trail What to See on Crystal Springs Trail." San Mateo County. Accessed November 28, 2021.

Publications

Jepson wrote at least 11 books during his lifetime, with two focused on California's trees. His works include ''A Flora of California'' (1909), ''The Trees of California'' (1909); and the major ''A Manual of the Flowering Plants of California'' (1925), predecessor of '' The Jepson Manual'' (1993). * *

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

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External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jepson, Willis Linn 19th-century American botanists 19th-century American male writers 19th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American botanists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 1867 births 1946 deaths Activists from California American botanical writers American conservationists American information and reference writers American male non-fiction writers American non-fiction environmental writers American taxonomists Botanists active in California Botanists active in North America Cornell University faculty Harvard University staff People from Vacaville, California Scientists from the San Francisco Bay Area Sierra Club people University of California, Berkeley alumni University of California, Berkeley faculty