September 27, 2009

Alice Faber Tryon, born on August 2, 1920, died on March 29, 2009.  According to the obituary the American Fern Society published: "she went to the University of Wisconsin at Madison where she met Rolla M. Tryon Jr. and married him on March 16, 1945." 

They met when she was his student. They later worked at Harvard where their expertise on "ferns and their spore morphology" was prized. But there were several academic posts before Harvard, including at "the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis in 1947 where Alice completed her doctoral degree at Washington University in 1952." Here is a photo from that time, and we see these academics in their office, with ---- their cat.



The obituary is not where we found this lovely photograph, but is the source of most of this information. " In 1958, she and Rolla joined the staff of the Gray Herbarium at Harvard University..." We also learned, "Her book with Bernard Lugardon, Spores of the Pteridophyta (1991), is likely to remain the authoritative reference on spore morphology for decades to come."

"On September 27, 2009, the authors [of the obituary, which would be Gerald J. Gastony, David S. Barrington, and David S. Conant -- all fellow botanists, I believe.] and their wives united Alice's ashes with Rolla's on a ferny hill in northern Vermont. A simple bronze plaque affixed to a boulder at the site records their passing with the following words.

IN MEMORY OF

ROLLA M. TRYON JR. (1916-2001)

AND ALICE F. TRYON (1920-2009)

EMINENT PTERIDOLOGISTS."

Pteridology is the study of spore-dispersed plants.

There is no obituary for Boriwog, that I could find. That's the cat in the picture. Boriwog. 
Following is a bibliography of Alice Tryon's work. You don't have to read it; I have to include it. To me it speaks of research shared with someone you love, and travel to exotic locales.

Bibliography of Alice F. Tryon (1920–2009)

Tryon, A. F. 1945. A taxonomic study of spores of Selaginellasubgenus Euselaginella in North America north of Mexico. Master's Thesis. University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Tryon, A. F. 1947. Glandular prothallia of Notholaena standleyi. Amer. Fern J 37:88–89.

Tryon, A. F. 1949. Spores of the genus Selaginella in North America, north of Mexico. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard 36:413–431.

Tryon, A. F. 1952. A revision of the American species of the fern genus Pellaea. Ph.D. Dissertation. Washington University, St. Louis.

Tryon, A. F. 1954. Problems in some of the American species ofPellaea. Proc. Eighth Int. Bot. Cong 8:19–20.

Tryon, A. F. 1955. A new Pellaea from South Africa. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard 42:101–103. 

Tryon, A. F. 1957. A revision of the fern genus Pellaea section Pellaea.Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard 44:125–193. 

Tryon, A. F. 1957. The vegetable lamb of Tartary. Amer. Fern J47:1–7.

Tryon, A. F. 1957. A leaf of fern. Perspective 3:12–15.

Tryon, A. F. and D. M. Britton. 1958. Cytotaxonomic studies on the fern genus Pellaea. Evolution 12:137–145.

Tryon, A. F. 1959. Ferns of the Incas. Amer. Fern J 49:10–24.

Tryon, R. and A. Tryon. 1959. Observations on the cultivated ferns: the hardy species of tree ferns (Dicksonia and Cyatheaceae). Amer. Fern J 49:129–142.

Tryon, A. F. 1960. Observations on the juvenile leaves of Pellaea andromedifolia. Contr. Gray Herb 187:61–68.

Tryon, A. F. 1961. Some new aspects of the fern Platyzoma microphyllum. Rhodora 63:91–102.

Tryon, A. F. 1962. A monograph of the fern genus Jamesonia. Contr. Gray Herb 191:109–197.

Tryon, A. F. 1963. Hermann Karsten, his collections and the Flora Columbiae. Taxon 12:103–105. 

Tryon, A. F. 1963. Notes on the fern genus Eriosorus. Rhodora65:56–57.

Tryon, A. F. 1964. Platyzoma—a Queensland fern with incipient heterospory. Amer. J. Bot 51:939–942.

Tryon, A. F. 1965. Trichomes and paraphyses in ferns. Taxon14:214–218.

Tryon, A. F. 1965. A parcel of Cameroon ferns. Amer. Fern J55:49–57.

Tryon, A. F. 1966. Origin of the fern flora of Tristan da Cunha. Brit. Fern Gaz 9:269–276.

Tryon, A. F. and G. Vida. 1967. Platyzoma: a new look at an old link in ferns. Science 156:1109–1110.

Tryon, R. M. and A. F. Tryon. 1968. Edith Scamman (1882–1967).Amer. Fern J 58:1–4.

Tryon, A. F. 1968. Comparisons of sexual and apogamous races in the fern genus Pellaea. Rhodora 70:1–24.

Tryon, A. F. 1970. A monograph of the fern genus Eriosorus. Contr. Gray Herb 200:54–174.

Tryon, A. F. 1971. Structure and variation in spores of Thelypteris palustris. Rhodora 73:444–460.

Tryon, A. F. 1972. Spores, chromosomes and relations of the fernPellaea atropurpurea. Rhodora 74:220–241.

Tryon, A. and R. Tryon. 1973. Thelypteris in northeastern North America. Amer. Fern J 63:65–76.

Tryon Jr, R. M. and A. F. Tryon. 1973. Geography, spores and evolutionary relations in the cheilanthoid ferns. Bot. J. Linn. Soc 67 Suppl. 1:146–153.

Tryon, R., B. Voeller, A. F. Tryon, and R. Riba. 1973. Fern biology in Mexico (a class field program). BioScience 23:28–33.

Tryon, A. F. and R. M. Tryon. 1974. Geographic patterns in temperate American ferns and some relationships in Thelypteris. Amer. Fern J64:99–104.

Tryon, A. F. and L. J. Feldman. 1975. Tree fern indusia: studies of development and diversity. Canad. J. Bot 53:2260–2273.

Tryon, A. F., H. P. Bautista, and I. da Silva Araújo. 1975. Chromosome studies of Brazilian ferns. Acta Amazon 5:35–43.

Tryon, A. F. 1978. New England Ferns (Filicales). Rhodora80:558–569.

Tryon, A. F. and B. Lugardon. 1978. Wall structure and mineral content in Selaginella spores. Pollen & Spores 20:315–340.

Tryon, A. F. 1980. Foreword to the symposium “Rare and Endangered Plant Species in New England.”. Rhodora 82:1–2.

Tryon, A. F., R. Tryon, and F. Badré. 1980. Classification, spores, and nomenclature of the marsh fern. Rhodora 82:461–474.

Tryon, R. and A. Tryon. 1981. Taxonomic and nomenclatural notes on ferns. Rhodora 83:133–137.

Tryon, R. and A. F. Tryon. 1982. Additional taxonomic and nomenclatural notes on ferns. Rhodora 84:125–130.

Tryon, R. M. and A. F. Tryon. 1982. Ferns and Allied Plants with Special Reference to Tropical America. Springer-Verlag. New York.

Tryon, A. F. 1985. Spores of myrmecophytic ferns. Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh 86B:105–110.

Tryon, A. F. 1986. Stasis, diversity and function in spores based on an electron microscope survey of the Pteridophyta. 233–249. in Blackmore, S. and I. K. Ferguson. Pollen and spores: form and function. Linnaean Society. London.

Wollenweber, E., C. Scheele, and A. F. Tryon. 1987. Flavonoids and spores of Platyzoma microphyllum, an endemic fern of Australia.Amer. Fern J 77:28–32.

Tryon, A. F. 1990. Fern spores: evolutionary levels and ecological differentiation. Pl. Syst. Evol. Suppl 5:71–79.

Tryon, R. M., A. F. Tryon, and K. U. Kramer. 1990. Pteridaceae.230–256. in Kubitzki, K. The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Vol. 1. Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms. Vol. eds. K. U. Kramer and P. S. Green. Springer-Verlag. New York.

Tryon, A. F. and B. Lugardon. 1991. Spores of the Pteridophyta.Springer-Verlag. New York.

Tryon, A. F. and R. C. Moran. 1997. The Ferns and Allied Plants of New England. Massachusetts Audubon Society. South Lincoln, Massachusetts.

Tryon, R. and A. F. Tryon. 1999. Observations on the phytogeography of eastern North American ferns. 250–273. in Zang, X-C. and K-H. Shing. Ching Memorial Volume. Institute of Botany, Chinese Acad. Sci.Beijing.