# Alice F. Tryon
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{{short description|American botanist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Alice Faber Tryon
| image = Alicetryon brazil.jpg
| image_size =
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| caption = Alice Tryon in Brazil
| birth_date = August 2, 1920
| birth_place = [Milwaukee](/source/Milwaukee), [Wisconsin](/source/Wisconsin), United States
| death_date = {{death date and age|2009|03|29|1920|08|02}}
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| fields = Botany
| workplaces = Gray Herbarium, Harvard University
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| education =
| alma_mater = [University of Wisconsin–Madison](/source/University_of_Wisconsin%E2%80%93Madison)
[Washington University in St. Louis](/source/Washington_University_in_St._Louis)
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| author_abbrev_bot = A.F.Tryon
| spouse = [Rolla M. Tryon](/source/Rolla_M._Tryon)
| footnotes =
}}
'''Alice Faber Tryon''' (1920–2009) was an American [botanist](/source/Botany) who specialized in the systematics of [fern](/source/fern)s and other spore-dispersed plants (pteridology).[{{cite journal|last1=Gastony|first1=G. J.|last2=Barrington|first2=D.S.|last3=Conant|first3=D.S.|title=Obituary: Alice Faber Tryon (1920–2009)|journal=American Fern Journal|date=2009|volume=99|issue=4|pages=231–235|doi=10.1640/0002-8444-99.4.231|s2cid=86162156|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/230944 }}] She had two general areas of interest in her work, first incorporating the use of spore surface patterns into the understanding of fern diversity and systematics, and second the fern family [Pteridaceae](/source/Pteridaceae).
== Biography ==
Alice Faber Tryon was born Alice Elizabeth Faber in [Milwaukee](/source/Milwaukee), [Wisconsin](/source/Wisconsin), on August 2, 1920, to Arthur and Laura Bindrich Faber.[{{Cite web|title = Rolla Milton Tryon Jr.|url = http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/06/rolla-milton-tryon-jr/|website = Harvard Gazette| date=3 June 2013 |access-date = 2015-12-17}}] She first began working with [Rolla Milton Tryon, Jr.](/source/Rolla_M._Tryon_Jr.) in 1945 as a student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In 1946, she became a member of the [American Fern Society](/source/American_Fern_Society) and became an honorary member in 1978.[{{cite journal |last1 = Gastony|first1 = Gerald J.|last2 = Barrington|first2 = David S.|last3 = Conant|first3 = David S.|title = Obituary: Rolla Milton Tryon, Jr. (1916–2001)|journal = American Fern Journal|year = 2002|volume = 92|issue = 1|pages = 1–9|doi=10.1640/0002-8444(2002)092[0001:ormtj]2.0.co;2| s2cid=86139846 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/230750 }}] At Harvard, they organized and offered an annual New England Fern Conference, which brought students and professors together in an informal and productive setting.[{{Cite book|title = Working with Ferns: Issues and Applications|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=smtpBM7UgXEC|publisher = Springer Science & Business Media|date = 2010-11-11|isbn = 9781441971623|first1 = Helena|last1 = Fernández|first2 = Ashwani|last2 = Kumar|first3 = Angeles|last3 = Revilla}}] Becoming the first woman member of the New England Botanical Club in 1968, Tryon was elected President in 1978.[{{Cite web|title = Obituary: Rolla Milton Tryon Jr. (1916-2001)|url = https://archive.org/stream/mobot31753002914619#page/2/mode/2up/search/alice|website = |access-date = 2015-12-17|date = March 2002|publisher = American Fern Journal}}]
Throughout her career she worked closely with her husband, traveling internationally and frequently publishing together—including their systematic survey of the ferns, with emphasis on tropical America.[{{cite book|last1=Tryon|first1=R.M.|last2=Tryon|first2=A.F.|title=Ferns and Allied Plants with Special Reference to Tropical America|date=1982|publisher=Springer-Verlag|location=New York}}] Her work on spore surface patterns was enhanced by her incorporation of scanning electron microscope images. With Bernard Lugardon, an authority on the interior structure of fern spores using transmission electron microscope images, published a complete survey of fern spore diversity in 1991.[{{cite book|last1=Tryon|first1=A.F.|last2=Lugardon|first2=B.|title=Spores of the Pteridophyta|date=1991|publisher=Springer-Verlag|location=New York}}] Tryon also made significant contributions to the study of fern reproductive biology with her studies of [apomixis](/source/apomixis) in ''Pellaea''.[{{cite journal|last1=Tryon|first1=A.F.|title=Comparisons of sexual and apogamous races in the fern genus ''Pellaea''|journal=Rhodora|date=1968|volume=70|pages=1–24}}][{{cite journal|last1=Tryon|first1=A.F.|title=Spores, chromosomes and relations of the fern ''Pellaea atropurpurea''|journal=Rhodora|date=1972|volume=74|pages=220–241}}]
In 2002, her collection was donated to the Alice and Rolla Tryon Pteridophyte Library at the [University of Vermont](/source/University_of_Vermont).[{{Cite journal|title = Tryonia, a new taenitidoid fern genus segregated from Jamesonia and Eriosorus (Pteridaceae)|journal = PhytoKeys|date = 2014-02-26|issn = 1314-2011|pmc = 4023336|pmid = 24843287|pages = 23–43|issue = 35|doi = 10.3897/phytokeys.35.6886|first1 = Alyssa T.|last1 = Cochran|first2 = Jefferson|last2 = Prado|first3 = Eric|last3 = Schuettpelz | doi-access=free }}]
Tryon died March 29, 2009, in Pensacola, Florida.