Perry Daniel Strausbaugh (March 21, 1886 - May 3, 1965) 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 ...

and expert in the flora of

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

Early life

Strausbaugh was born near

Republic, Ohio Republic is a village in Seneca County, Ohio, United States. The population was 549 at the 2010 census. History In 1834, Sidney Smith hired R.M. Shoemaker of Cincinnati to survey a new town at the corners of sections 15, 16, 21, and 22 in Scipi ...

on March 21, 1886. When he was 16, he received his teacher's certificate and began teaching grade school in

Danville, Ohio Danville is a village in Knox County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,044 at the 2010 census. History Modern Danville had its start in 1923 by the merging of two neighboring villages called Buckeye City and Rosstown (Rossville). The or ...

. He first became interested in botany in 1904 while taking college preparatory classes at North Manchester College. In 1906, he received a Bachelor of English from Canton College and Bible Institute. He went on to get a S.B. degree from the College of Wooster in 1913, where he was also working as an instructor. He continued to teach at the school as an instructor in biology from 1913 to 1915, and as assistant professor from 1915 to 1918. In 1916, Strausbaugh enrolled at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

as a graduate student in botany under the direction of

John Merle Coulter John Merle Coulter, Ph. D. (November 20, 1851 – December 23, 1928) was an American botanist and educator. In his career in education administration, Coulter is notable for serving as the president of Indiana University and Lake Forest College a ...

. He earned 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 a ...

in 1920, graduating cum laude.Core, E. (1966). Perry Daniel Strausbaugh. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 93(2), 138-140. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2483756

Career

After his graduation, Strausbaugh returned to Wooster College as assistant professor of botany, becoming a full professor of botany from 1921 to 1923. In 1923, Strausbaugh accepted the position as head of the department of botany at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

and moved to

Morgantown, West Virginia Morgantown is a city in and the county seat of Monongalia County, West Virginia, Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Monongahela River. The largest city in North-Central West Virginia, Morgantown is best known as th ...

. Here, one of his first acts was to re-organize the University Herbarium first established by

Charles Frederick Millspaugh Charles Frederick Millspaugh (June 20, 1854– September 15, 1923) was an American botanist and physician, born at Ithaca, N.Y., and educated at Cornell and the New York Homeopathic Medical College. He received his medical degree in 1881 and ...

and to start to bolster the collection. In 1937, Strausbaugh was listed as an original member of the Southern Appalachian Botanical Club. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Strausbaugh served as lieutenant colonel. He was in charge of growing grass next to landing strips in order to prevent dust clouds from damaging aircraft and other machinery. In 1948, Strausbaugh retired from West Virginia University, but remained as a professor

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

. His summer courses lead to the establishment of the Terra Alta Biological Station in 1962.

Legacy

After his retirement, West Virginia University started off the P. D. Strausbaugh Student Loan Fund. The longest nature trail in the Core Arboretum was named the Strausbaugh Trail in 1955.

Selected publications

*Dormancy and hardiness in the plum. Bot. Gaz. 71: 337–357. 1921. *Common seed plants of the mid-Appalachian region. 507 p. Edwards Bros., Ann Harbor, Mich. Without date (about 1927). *Some troublesome weeds found in water supplies. W. Va. Eng. Exp. Sta. Tech. Bull. 2: 102–108. 1928. *Plant life of West Virginia. In W. Va. Encyclopedia. W. Va. Publ. Co., Charleston. pp. 678–689. 1929. *An invading potato sprout. Plant Physiology 4: 157, 158. 1929. *Some additions to the Millspaugh check-list of West Virginia spermatophytes. Proc. W. Va. Acad. Sci. 4: 38–48. 1930. (with Earl L. Core). *At the head of the Cacapon. Scientific Monthly 33: 80–85. 1931. (with J. G. Needham). *Common seed plants of the mid-Appalachian region. 305 p. Morgantown, W. Va. 1931. 2nd ed. 1955. (with Earl L. Core and Nelle P. Ammons). *The West Virginia University Biological Expedition. W. Va. School Journ. 60: 6, 7. December 1931. *Phymosia remota. Rhodora 34: 142–146. 1932. (with Earl L. Core). *Cranberry Glades. American Forests 40: 362–364, 382, 383. 1934. *Trees and shrubs of West Virginia. Mimeo. 109 p. 1935. (with Earl L. Core). *Additions to the Millspaugh check-list of West Virginia spermatophytes. Proc. W. Va. Acad. Sci. 9: 29–31. 1935. (with Earl L. Core). *Quaerite et invenietis. Sigma Xi Quarterly 24: 195–204. 1936. *William Earl Rumsey. Castanea 3: 53, 54. 1938. *Elements of biology. 461 p. New York, London. 1944. (with B. R. Weimer). *Some stages in the development of sphagnum bogs in West Virginia. Castanea 14: 129–148. 1949. (with G. B. Rigg). *Some new or otherwise noteworthy plants from West Virginia. Castanea 17: 16&i. 1952. (with Earl L. Core). *Theodore Roosevelt (book review) Castanea 22: 124, 125. 1957. * Rev. Fred W. Gray. Castanea 25: 132. 1960.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strausbaugh, Perry Daniel 1886 births 1965 deaths West Virginia University faculty 20th-century American botanists