Elsie Quarterman (November 28, 1910 – June 9, 2014) was a prominent plant ecologist. She was a professor emerita at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

. Quarterman was born on November 28, 1910, in

Valdosta, Georgia Valdosta is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, Georgia, Lowndes County in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As the principal city of the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area, Valdosta metropolitan statistical area, ...

. She earned a B.A. from Georgia State Women's College (now

Valdosta State University Valdosta State University (VSU or Valdosta State) is a public university in Valdosta, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1906, it launched in 1913 as an all-girls college. VSU is one of the four comprehensive universities in the University System ...

) in 1932 and earned an M.A. in botany from Duke University in 1943. She completed her PhD at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

in 1949 with Henry J. Oosting. During her graduate work and afterward, she also collaborated extensively with

Catherine Keever Catherine Keever (September 8, 1908 - May 9, 2003) was an educator and ecologist focused on ecological succession and highland region ecology. Keever proved that moss is the first plant to grow on bald rock, rather than lichens. Early life Kee ...

. Quarterman is best known for her work on the ecology of

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

cedar glade A calcareous glade is a type of ecological community that is found in the central Eastern United States. Calcareous glades occur where bedrock such as limestone occurs near or at the surface, and have very shallow and little soil development. Du ...

s. These herb-dominated plant communities on the shallow soils of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth and other terrestrial planets. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most p ...

s are globally rare habitats and contain many

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

plant species. She is also credited with rediscovering the native Tennessee coneflower, ''

Echinacea tennesseensis ''Echinacea tennesseensis'', also known as the Tennessee coneflower or Tennessee purple coneflower, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, endemic to the cedar glades of the central portion of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Description ' ...

'', which was thought to be extinct, in 1969. Conservation efforts for the coneflower were successful, and it was delisted as an endangered species in 2011. She supervised seven doctoral students, including Stewart Ware, a plant ecologist at the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...

, and Carol and Jerry Baskin, professors at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

Death

She died on June 9, 2014, aged 103, in Nashville.

Honors

Quarterman became the first woman department chair at Vanderbilt when she chaired the Biology Department in 1964. The Tennessee Academy of Science honored Quarterman with the 2003 Distinguished College/University Scientist Award. The Southeastern Chapter of the

Ecological Society of America The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States and founded in 1915, ESA publications include peer-reviewed journals, newsletters, fact sheets, and teaching resources. I ...

gives an annual Quarterman-Keever Award to the best student poster in ecology. The Elsie Quarterman Cedar Glade, a natural area that is part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Percy Priest Reservoir and Wildlife Management Area near La Vergne, Tennessee, is named in her honor. In 2008, an annual spring wildflower event at

Cedars of Lebanon State Park Cedars of Lebanon State Park is a state park in Wilson County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. It consists of situated amidst the Cedars of Lebanon State Forest. The park and forest are approximately south of Lebanon, Tennessee ...

, celebrated annually for over 30 years, was renamed the Elsie Quarterman Wildflower Weekend.Wildflower Weekend honors Quarterman
tennessean.com; accessed December 11, 2016.

Selected works

*Quarterman, Elsie. 1950. ''Major plant communities of Tennessee cedar glades.'' Ecology 31: 234–254. *Quarterman, Elsie. 1957. ''Early Plant Succession on Abandoned Cropland in the Central Basin of Tennessee.'' Ecology 38: 300–309. *Quarterman, Elsie, and Catherine Keever. 1962. ''Southern mixed hardwood forest: climax in the southeastern Coastal Plain.'' Ecological Monographs 32: 167–185. *Quarterman, Elsie, Barbara Holman Turner, and Thomas E. Hemmerly. 1972. ''Analysis of virgin mixed mesophytic forests in Savage Gulf, Tennessee.'' Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 99: 228–232. *Quarterman, Elsie and Richard L. Powell. 1978. ''Potential ecological/geological natural landmarks on the interior low plateaus.'' National Park Service. Interagency Resource Management Division.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quarterman, Elsie 1910 births 2014 deaths American women centenarians American ecologists American women ecologists Plant ecologists Vanderbilt University faculty People from Valdosta, Georgia Valdosta State University alumni Duke University alumni Place of death missing American nature writers 20th-century American scientists