# Rolla M. Tryon Jr.

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{{Short description|American botanist (1916–2001)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Rolla Milton Tryon Jr.
| image             = Rollamtryonjr.jpg
| image_size        = 
| alt               = 
| caption           = Botanist Rolla Milton Tryon Jr.
| birth_date        = August 26, 1916
| birth_place       = [Chicago, Illinois](/source/Chicago%2C_Illinois), United States
| death_date        = {{death date and age|2001|08|20|1916|08|26}}
| death_place       = 
| death_cause       = 
| resting_place     = 
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| other_names       = 
| residence         = 
| citizenship       = 
| fields            = Botany
| workplaces        = Gray Herbarium, Harvard University
| patrons           = 
| education         = 
| alma_mater        = [University of Chicago](/source/University_of_Chicago)<br>[University of Wisconsin–Madison](/source/University_of_Wisconsin%E2%80%93Madison)<br>[Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University)
| doctoral_students = Gerald J. Gastony, David S. Barrington, [David S. Conant](/source/David_Stoughton_Conant), Paulo G. Windisch
| notable_students  = 
| known_for         = 
| awards            = 
| author_abbrev_bot = R.M.Tryon
| spouse            = [Alice F. Tryon](/source/Alice_F._Tryon)
| footnotes         = 
}}
'''Rolla Milton Tryon Jr.''' (August 26, 1916 – August 20, 2001) was an American [botanist](/source/botanist) who specialized in the systematics and evolution of [fern](/source/fern)s and other spore-dispersed plants ([pteridology](/source/pteridology)).  His particular focus and interest lay in two areas, historical [biogeography](/source/biogeography) of ferns and the taxonomy of tropical American ferns.<ref name="obit">{{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 }}</ref>

==Biography==

Rolla Milton Tryon Jr. was born August 26, 1916, in [Chicago](/source/Chicago). His father was an American history and education professor at the [University of Chicago](/source/University_of_Chicago).<ref name=":0">{{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 |accessdate = 2015-12-17}}</ref>

Tryon's first scientific paper was published in 1934 (at the age of 18) on the ferns in [Chesterton](/source/Chesterton%2C_Indiana), [Indiana](/source/Indiana) where his family's summer cottage was located. In 1935, he received his A.A. degree and in 1937 his B.S., both from the University of Chicago. He enrolled in the [University of Wisconsin](/source/University_of_Wisconsin%E2%80%93Madison) for a Ph.M., graduating in 1938. Then, at [Harvard](/source/Harvard_University), earning he earned both his M.S. in 1940, and  Ph.D. in 1941<ref name=":0" /> working with [Merritt Lyndon Fernald](/source/Merritt_Lyndon_Fernald) and [Charles Alfred Weatherby](/source/Charles_Alfred_Weatherby) on ferns in the genera ''[Pteridium](/source/Pteridium)'' and ''[Doryopteris](/source/Doryopteris)''.

During World War II, he worked as a lab technician in the [U.S. Chemical Warfare Service](/source/U.S._Chemical_Warfare_Service) at the [Massachusetts Institute of Technology](/source/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology). After the war, he returned to teach at [Dartmouth College](/source/Dartmouth_College). then at the University of Wisconsin, where he met his future wife and lifelong collaborator, [Alice Faber](/source/Alice_F._Tryon), a student at the time. In 1947, Tryon joined the faculty at [Washington University in St. Louis](/source/Washington_University_in_St._Louis) as an associate professor of botany and became assistant curator in the herbarium of the [Missouri Botanical Garden](/source/Missouri_Botanical_Garden).<ref name=":0" />

Tryon left Missouri in 1957 to travel with Alice to [Peru](/source/Peru) to study the fern flora of the American tropics. When they returned, Tryon served as a research associate at the [University of California](/source/University_of_California)  Herbarium at [Berkeley](/source/Berkeley%2C_California). In 1958, Tryon returned to Harvard as Curator of Ferns at the [Gray Herbarium](/source/Harvard_University_Herbaria) where he remained with his wife until 1987. In 1972, he became a professor of biology at Harvard.<ref name="obit" /><ref name=":0" />

The two Tryons wrote a complete survey of ferns, ''Ferns and Allied Plants: with Special Reference to Tropical America,'' with emphasis on [tropical America](/source/Neotropical_realm), which was published in 1982.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite book| last1=Tryon | first1=R. M. |first2=A. F.|last2= Tryon | year=1982 | title=Ferns and allied plants with special reference to tropical America | publisher=Springer-Verlag | location=New York | isbn= 038790672X }}</ref>

Tryon was a member of the [American Fern Society](/source/American_Fern_Society) for 69 years, starting in 1932, and held various roles in the society including curator and librarian of the library and herbarium from 1946 to 1957; president from 1974 to 1975; he was made an honorary member in 1978.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title = American Fern Journal|url = https://archive.org/stream/mobot31753002914619|website = Obituary: Rolla Milton Tryon Jr.|accessdate = 2015-12-17|date = March 2002}}</ref> At the New England Botanical Club, he was recording secretary from 1964 to 1968, associate editor of the Society's Journal Rhodora from 1961 to 1977, editor-in-chief from 1977 to 1981, vice-president from 1984 to 1986 and president from 1986 to 1988.<ref name=":0" /> In 1984, he received a Merit Award from the [Botanical Society of America](/source/Botanical_Society_of_America).<ref name=":1" />

Following his Harvard retirement, he became an adjunct professor at the [University of South Florida](/source/University_of_South_Florida) in [Tampa](/source/Tampa%2C_Florida). He died August 20, 2001.<ref name=":0" />

{{Botanist|R.M.Tryon|Tryon, Rolla}}

== Footnotes ==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tryon, Rolla M. Jr.}}
Category:20th-century American botanists
Category:Missouri Botanical Garden people
Category:1916 births
Category:2001 deaths
Category:Harvard University alumni
Category:American pteridologists
Category:University of Chicago alumni
Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
Category:Harvard University faculty
Category:Washington University in St. Louis faculty
Category:American botanical writers
Category:University of California, Berkeley staff

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rolla M. Tryon Jr.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolla_M._Tryon_Jr.) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolla_M._Tryon_Jr.?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.