# Edwin Blake Payson > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Edwin_Blake_Payson > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Edwin_Blake_Payson.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Blake_Payson > Source revision: 1274409965 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American botanist}} '''Edwin Blake Payson''' (born [Norwood](/source/Norwood%2C_Colorado), [Colorado](/source/Colorado),https://www.gf.org/fellows/edwin-blake-payson/ "Edwin Blake Payson", John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation website February 18, 1893; died [Denver](/source/Denver), Colorado, May 15, 1927)"The Washington Species of Draba", Edwin Blake Payson and [Harold St. John](/source/Harold_St._John), ''Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington'', volume 43, June 5, 1930, footnote, p. 98 was an American botanist. ==Early life== Payson was the son of Amon R. Payson (1859–1938), a cattle rancher and one of the founders of [Naturita](/source/Naturita%2C_Colorado), Colorado. Payson's mother Sarah Payson (1869–1893) died about a month after his birth. Payson went to Montrose High School in [Montrose](/source/Montrose%2C_Colorado)"Contributions From the Rocky Mountain Herbarium XIII", Aven Nelson, Botanical Gazette, Volume 56 (1913), p. 63 (footnote) and then attended the [University of Wyoming](/source/University_of_Wyoming) where he received a B.A. in 1917. Following graduation he entered the military, where he served in the [89th Infantry Division](/source/89th_Infantry_Division_(United_States))."Soldier and Wife Will Come Here For Visit", ''Laramie Boomerang'', June 13, 1919, p. 4. He trained at [Camp Funston](/source/Camp_Funston), then returned to Laramie for his marriage to Louise Butler, a fellow botany student."Wedding Last Night One of Much Interest", ''Laramie Boomerang'', April 25, 1918, p. 8 After the end of World War I, Payson was an instructor at the [American Expeditionary Forces University](/source/American_Expeditionary_Forces) at [Beaune](/source/Beaune), [France](/source/France). Payson returned to the United States in May of 1919. He was a teaching fellow at the [Washington University in St. Louis](/source/Washington_University_in_St._Louis) school of botany and earned a M.A. (1920) and a PhD (1921) there.Guggenheim ==Career== Payson then became an associate professor of botany at the University of Wyoming, where he was a protégé of former college president and botany department founder Dr. [Aven Nelson](/source/Aven_Nelson). In 1926 he was raised to full professor. Unfortunately he suffered a partial paralysis of his left arm in 1926, underwent gall bladder surgery in 1927, and died shortly afterwards of heart failure.https://www.wyoachs.com/people/2020/6/22/ruth-southworth-brown-and-cecil-rigby-nussbaum-a-student-and-a-faculty-wife-reminisce-about-uw-in-the-1920s "Ruth Southworth Brown and Cecil Rigby Nussbaum: A student and a faculty wife reminisce about UW in the 1920s", June 22, 2020, Albany County Historical Society, Judy Knight ==Some of his works== * "The North American species of [Aquilegia](/source/Aquilegia)" (1918) * "A Monograph of the Genus [Lesquerella](/source/Lesquerella)" (1921) * "A monographic study of [Thelypodium](/source/Thelypodium) and its immediate allies" (1923) * "A Monograph of the Section [Oreocarya](/source/Oreocarya) of [Cryptantha](/source/Cryptantha)" (1927) ==Recognitions== [[File:Botanischer Garten München-Nymphenburg 2017 69.jpg|thumb|[Draba](/source/Draba) sphaeroides, a species of whitlow-grass described by Payson]] Shortly before his death Payson was awarded a [Guggenheim Fellowship](/source/Guggenheim_Fellowship) to "continue evolutionary and taxonomic studies of flowering plants of the families [Cruciferae](/source/Cruciferae) and [Ranunculaceae](/source/Ranunculaceae) with special emphasis on the question of generic phylogenies; the genera [Draba](/source/Draba) and Aquilegia are to be studied in detail, mainly at [Kew Gardens](/source/Kew_Gardens), London".Guggenheim Payson described and named many species, and a number were named in his honor following his "untimely end", as ''The American Botanist'' called it."Death of Dr. Payson", ''The American Botanist'', ed. Willard N. Clute, volume XXXIII, #3 (July 1927), p. 127 The genus [Paysonia](/source/Paysonia) (a part of the former genus ''Lesquerella'' which Payson studied) and the species Cryptantha paysonii, [Dryopetalon](/source/Dryopetalon) paysonii, and [Astragalus](/source/Astragalus_(plant)) paysonii are named in his honor. {{botanist|Payson|inline=yes}} ==Personal life== Payson married Louise "Lois" Elizabeth Butler (1895–1970), a botanist, librarian, and plant collector.https://bionomia.net/Q113962892 Louise Butler Payson's entry on Bionomia She was a niece of Laramie sheriff [N. K. Boswell](/source/N._K._Boswell).https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/local_news/laramie-1868-2020-charismatic-lawman-n-k-boswell-he-brought-law-and-order-to-laramie/article_de759044-2480-5cb9-bf8d-1305f2c7a8c7.html "Charismatic lawman N.K. Boswell; He brought law and order to Laramie", Judy Knight, Laramie Boomerang, March 15, 2020 Payson and his wife are buried in neighboring plots in Greenhill Cemetery in [Laramie](/source/Laramie%2C_Wyoming), Wyoming. ==References== {{reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Payson, Edwin Blake}} Category:1893 births Category:1927 deaths Category:People from Montrose County, Colorado Category:University of Wyoming alumni Category:Washington University in St. Louis alumni Category:American botanists Category:Botanists from Colorado --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Edwin Blake Payson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Blake_Payson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Blake_Payson?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.