Thursday, July 24, 2014

Parlin's Pussytoes

Parlin's Pussytoes
Antennaria parlinii
John Crawford Parlin was an amateur botanist of some reknown.  Born in 1863, died in 1948, he was at his peak in the late 1800's when he helped found the Josselyn Botanical Society in Maine.  He wrote one book, "Our Local Flora", in 1891, although I haven't seen it and don't know what the locality was.  It is available on Amazon.  He graduated from Harvard and became a teacher, pursuing botany on the side.  It was as hard to make a living at botany then as it is now!

It's nice to know that he will be forever remembered via the one plant with his name, which he discovered - Parlin's Pussytoes.  There are several members of this genus found in Indiana, including one called Woman's Tobacco, which is a cool name for a plant.


This species has smooth leaves
There are several flowerheads grouped together

2 comments:

  1. So, this year of posts will be YOUR legacy to the world of botanical study. Hope you have plans to collate them into a book at year's end.

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  2. Hmmm, interesting. I hadn't thought of that.

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