No, I'm not suggesting that Ed led a dual botanical life. He was devoted to the vascular (especially the flowering) plants of Michigan at all seasons and throughout his life. But his botanical seasons were definitely compartmentalized, like so many other elements of his life.In summers (from mid-May to the Labor Day weekend, slightly longer after retirement) Ed was based "up north," staying at the Biological Station on Douglas Lake while teaching (for 36 summers; 1963-1974, 1976-1998, 2003; plus four years as a teaching assistant, 1949, 1951-1953) (Fig. 7). Ed attended the International Botanical Congress in Leningrad in 1975, John Thieret substituting for him that summer. When not at the station, Ed stayed at his cottage on the straits near the tip of the Lower Peninsula looking out over the Mackinac Bridge.He likely went in the field more often than any other botanist in the region. I always wished I could have as much field time as Ed. His field work, though, was usually tightly focused and organized, like everything else in his life. When he was teaching, he was scouting class trips and looking for new areas to take people or show them special things, such as transient species of disturbed habitats, which were always a challenge. However, he was always keen to explore a new bog or fen, and was especially interested in comprehensively documenting the plants of favorite areas in the straits region, including Grass Bay, the Headlands, or Saint Helena Island (Voss 2001).
展开▼
