Edgar Theodore Wherry (1885–1982) was an American mineralogist, soil scientist and botanist. He had a deep interest in

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

s and ''

Sarracenia ''Sarracenia'' ( or ) is a genus comprising 8 to 11 species of North American pitcher plants, commonly called trumpet pitchers. The genus belongs to the family Sarraceniaceae, which also contain the closely allied genera '' Darlingtonia'' and '' ...

''. Wherry earned his bachelor's degree in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

in 1906 from the University of Pennsylvania. He received his doctorate in

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

in 1909 from the same university. From 1908 to 1912, he taught at

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, is a private university, private research university. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer. Lehigh University's undergraduate programs have been mixed ...

. He lived in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

from 1912 to 1930, part of this time working as an assistant curator of mineralogy for the U. S. National Museum of Natural History, and also for the Bureau of Chemistry of the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

. He taught botany at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

from 1930 to 1955, when he retired. He wrote many papers in mineralogy through those years, he was the fourth president of the

Mineralogical Society of America The Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) is a scientific membership organization. MSA was founded in 1919 for the advancement of mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, and petrology, and promotion of their uses in other sciences, industry, ...

(MSA) in 1923. He became interested in ferns at age 30, and did much work in that field the rest of his life. He was president of the

American Fern Society The American Fern Society was founded in 1893. Today, it has more than 1,000 members around the world, with various local chapters. Among its deceased members, perhaps the most famous is Oliver Sacks, who became a member in 1993. Willard N. Clut ...

from 1934 to 1939. He wrote three key guides to the ferns of eastern

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. The first was ''Guide to Eastern Ferns'' in 1937, followed by a greatly updated ''The Fern Guide'' in 1961, and lastly ''The Southern Fern Guide'' in 1964. He was in the forefront of taxonomic work on ferns, and his field guides provided far more current taxonomy than other guides of the day. He donated all royalties from the fern field guides to the American Fern Society. The

Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading natur ...

preserves many botanical specimens that he collected in Pennsylvania in the 1940s and 1950s. A crowd-sourcing initiative, organized by the Mid-Atlantic Herbaria Consortium, was digitizing these records in 2020. In 1964, he was awarded the

Mary Soper Pope Memorial Award The Mary Soper Pope Memorial Award, informally known as the Mary Soper Pope Medal, was awarded by the Cranbrook Institute of Science of Detroit, Michigan, for notable achievement in plant sciences. It was inaugurated in 1946, and the last award wa ...

in botany."Cranbrook Institute of Science Director's Papers"
Cranbrook website. Retrieved Dec. 27, 2016. The "Edgar T. Wherry Award" was established in 1989 by the

Botanical Society of America The Botanical Society of America (BSA) represents professional and amateur botanists, researchers, educators and students in over 80 countries of the world. It functions as a United States nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership society. History The soc ...

for the best paper presented each year in the pteridological section.

Plants named for Wherry

*'' Asplenium × wherryi'' D.M. Smith ('' A. bradleyi'' × '' A. montanum'') *''Castilleja wherryana'' Pennell *''Dryopteris × neo-wherryi''

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

('' D. goldieana'' × '' D. marginalis'') *''Dryopteris wherryi'' Small *''Iris wherryana'' Crane *''Mimosa wherryana'' (Britton) Standl. *''Mimosopsis wherryana'' Britton *''Penstemon wherryi'' Pennell *''Phlox wherryi'' Heath *''Silene wherryi'' Small *''

Tiarella wherryi ''Tiarella wherryi'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Saxifragaceae. The specific epithet ''wherryi'' recognizes Edgar Wherry, the botanist who collected some of the first specimens in the early 1930s. Commonly called Wherry's foamf ...

'' Lakela

Plants named by Wherry

Wherry authored 109 plant taxon names, and coauthored another 11. Additionally, he made 223 combinations based on pre-existing names.IPNI, The International Plant Names Index. www.ipni.org Following are a few examples. *''Asplenium x trudellii'' Wherry ('' A. montanum'' x ''

Asplenium pinnatifidum ''Asplenium pinnatifidum'', commonly known as the lobed spleenwort or pinnatifid spleenwort, is a small fern found principally in the Appalachian Mountains and the Shawnee Hills, growing in rock crevices in moderately acid to subacid strata. Orig ...

'') *''Microgramma heterophylla'' ( L.) Wherry *''Sarracenia oreophila'' (Kearney) Wherry *''Sarracenia jonesii'' Wherry *''Trillium cernuum'' f. ''tangerae'' Wherry

Books by Wherry

*Wherry, Edgar T. ''Wild Flowers of Mount Desert Island, Maine''. Garden Club of Mount Desert,

Bar Harbor, Maine Bar Harbor () is a resort town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population is 5,089. The town is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory, and MDI Biological Laborat ...

. 1928. 164 pp. ill. *Wherry, Edgar T. ''The Wild Flower Guide, Northeastern and Midland United States.'' Doubleday, Garden City, New York. 1948. 202 pp. ill. *Wherry, Edgar T. ''Guide to Eastern Ferns''. Illustrated with line drawings by Oliver Stoner and Cyrus Feldman. First edition: The Science Press Printing Company, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 1937. iv, 220 pp. frontispiece, illus, 6.5x4in (170x100mm), hardcover. Second edition: University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1942. iv, 252 pp. hardcover. Reprint of second edition: University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1948. iv, 252 pp. hardcover. *Wherry, Edgar T. ''The Genus Phlox''. 174 p., illus. Morris Arboretum Monograph 3. 1955. 174 pp. ill. *Wherry, Edgar T. ''The Fern Guide (Northeastern and Midland United States and Adjacent Canada; Doubleday Nature Guide Series)''. Illustrated by James C. W. Chen. First printing: Doubleday & Co., Garden City, New York. 1961. 318 pp. hardcover. Reprint: Dover Publications Inc., New York, New York. 1994 (1995?). 318 pp. 120 b/w ill, softcover. . *Wherry, Edgar T. ''The Southern Fern Guide (Southeastern and Midland United States; Doubleday Nature Guide Series)''. Illustrated by James C. W. Chen and Keith C. Y. Chen. First edition: Doubleday & Co., Garden City, New York. 1964. 349 pp. hardcover. Second edition: "Corrected First Edition with Nomenclatural Changes". American Fern Society, New York Chapter, Bronx, New York. 1972. 349 pp. softcover. LC 77–93190. Reprint of second edition: American Fern Society, New York Chapter, Bronx, New York. 1978. 349 pp. hardcover.

References

*Hooker, Marjorie, and Arthur Montgomery. "Edgar Theodore Wherry." ''American Mineralogist'' 60:533-539. 1975: http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM60/AM60_533.pdf *Fogg, John M., Jr. "Edgar Wherry in Pennsylvania." ''American Fern Journal'' 66(2):33- 1976. *Wagner, Warren H., Jr. "Edgar T. Wherry and his contributions to pteridology." ''American Fern Journal'' 73(1):1- 1983. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wherry, Edgar T. 20th-century American botanists American pteridologists 1885 births 1982 deaths