Rev. Thomas Morong (April 15, 1827 – April 26, 1894) was an American botanist and clergyman.

Biography

Morong was born in

Cahawba, Alabama Cahaba, also spelled Cahawba, was the first permanent state capital of Alabama from 1820 to 1825, and the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama until 1866. Located at the confluence of the Alabama and Cahaba rivers, it suffered regular seasonal ...

to a Massachusetts-born father, Thomas Morong, and a Maryland-born mother Jane Travers. His father owned a store and a plantation. After the death of his father, 15-year-old Morong and his family moved to

Woburn, Massachusetts Woburn ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,876 at the 2020 census. Woburn is located north of Boston. Woburn uses Massachusetts' mayor-council form of government, in which an elected mayor is ...

.Deane, Walter. “Thomas Morong”. Botanical Gazette 19.6 (1894): 225–228. Web... After graduating from the Warren Academy and from Amherst, he entered Harvard Law School. However, he soon dropped law school, entering

Andover Theological Seminary Andover Theological Seminary (1807–1965) was a Congregationalist seminary founded in 1807 and originally located in Andover, Massachusetts on the campus of Phillips Academy. From 1908 to 1931, it was located at Harvard University in Cambridge. ...

where he graduated in 1853. The next year he was ordained as a congregational minister. Throughout most of the rest of his life he served at various churches throughout Massachusetts. In 1861, he built his own greenhouse to study botany. He predominantly worked as a field botanist in the Eastern states. In 1888, he retired from the ministry to focus on botany full-time. That same year, he traveled to South America to collect and study specimen. In 1890, he returned home with 20,000 specimen of plants, as well as field notes. Soon after the return from his excursion, he was named curator of the herbarium at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Additionally, he taught classes on botany throughout the area. He died at his son's house in 1894 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a member of the

Torrey Botanical Society Torrey Botanical Society (formerly Torrey Botanical Club) was started in the 1860s by colleagues of John Torrey. It is the oldest botanical society in the Americas. The Society promotes the exploration and study of plant life, with particular ...

Selected publications

* New species of Potamogeton with Notes upon some published Forms. Bot. Gaz. 5: 50-53 (1880). * Potamogeton Vaseyi Robbins. Bot. Gaz. 5: 89 (1880). * Potamogeton Hillii n. sp. Bot. Gaz, 6: 290, 291 (1881). * Notes on Naiadaceæ. Bot. Gaz. 10: 254-256(1885). * Collection of aquatic Plants. Bot. Gaz. 11: 139,140,193(1886). * Revision of the North American Species of Nuphar. Bot. Gaz. 11: 164-169 (1886). * A new Species of Potamogeton. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 13: 45 (1886). * Naiadaceæ in the Torrey Herbarium. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 13: 153-162 (1886). * Some new or little known American Plants. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 14: 51,52 (1887). * Studies in the Typhaceæ. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 15: 1–8; 73-81 (1888). * A new Water-lily. Bot. Gaz. 13: 124,125 (1888). * Paraguay and its Flora. Bot. Gaz. 14: 222–227; 240-253 (1889). * First Glimpses of South American Vegetation. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 16: 43-49 (1889). * The Flora of the Desert of Atacama. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 18: 39-48 (1891). * Myriophyllum Farwellii n. sp. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 18: 146, 147 (1891). * Horticulture in the Copiapo Valley, Chile. Amer. Gard. 12: 227-230 (1891). * Jesuits' Tea. Bull Pharm. 5: 549-554 (1891). * Copernicia eenfera. Bull. Pharm. 6: (1892). * Notes on North American Halorageæ. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 18: 229-246 ( 1891). * Notes on the North American Species of Eriocauleæ. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 18: 351-362 (1891). * Eriocaulon bilobatum n. sp. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 19: 226,227 (1892). * An Enumeration of the Plants collected in Paraguay, 1888–1890. Annals N.Y. Acad. Sci. (1889-1893). * A Revision of the North American Naiadaceæ Mem. Torr. Bot. Club, 3: Part. 2, pp. 65 (1893). * A new Species of Listera with notes on other Orchids. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 20: 31–39,121,122 (1893). * Thomas Hogg. Bull Torr. Bot. Club, 20: 217,218 (1893). * Notes upon various Species of Iridaceæ and other Orders. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 20: 467-473 (1893.)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morong, Thomas 1827 births 1894 deaths Botanists active in North America Torrey Botanical Society members Columbia University faculty 19th-century American botanists