'To The Point' Newsletter of CSSA November-December 1999, Vol. 71, No. 6.
PRESIDENT'S COMMENTS though her father had fostered careers in English for his children, Alice had escaped Phil Munz—Botanist, Plantsman, into botany, and after her B.A. degree pur• Author, and CSSA Fellow sued graduate work at Pomona College. Ro• mance blossomed and Alice and Phil were; Philip Alexander Munz was an amazing married. She combined her botanical inter• man. He radiated kindness, concern, wis• ests into his by working together; she joined dom, and warmth, often expressed with him in field trips. They had two sons—Bob cheerful humor. His modest, gentle de• and Fred—who became a part of the annual meanor masked his significance as a world- excursions that ranged into the eastern U.S. class botanist, plantsman, and author. or the Pacific Northwest.
He was born on April 1, 1892, in Saratoga, Parts of the summer field trips were studies Wyoming; however, his family moved to at herbaria in the eastern U.S. The Munzes Denver when he was six. He graduated camped out to save money, but this pro• from high school at 16, but he did not enter vided opportunities for exploration of natu• college for a year because his parents felt he ral areas and appreciation of natural history was too young. In 1909 he enrolled at the in general. They went to Europe during University of Denver, living at home and other summers for herbarium studies. They using his bicycle to travel to classes. After developed a lifelong affection for charming completing an M.A. degree at the Univer• villages and byways in Europe and for sity of Denver, Munz received a teaching European history. Their most extensive fellowship in biology at Cornell University, fieldwork was an expedition to South Ithaca, New York, where he graduated with America in 1938-1939 where they visited a Ph.D. degree in entomology in 1917 at Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. age 25. Over many years Munz had the ability to In August 1917 Pomona College hired work concurrently on several important pro• Munz as an assistant professor in botany. At jects. His years of work with the southern that time Pomona College was a very small Californian flora built gradually into A liberal arts college in Claremont, an isolated Manual of Southern California Botany, a town in southern California. The college ac• 642 page book published in 1935. cepted him as an entomologist, providing he would teach botany—and, in fact, be the en• Because of his detailed knowledge of desert tire Botany Department. Upon his arrival in species and his efforts at contacting Claremont, he proceeded rapidly to learn influential people and preparing exhibits, he the area plants, preparing him to teach a was actively involved in establishing the course on southern Californian plants dur• Joshua Tree National Monument. It re• ing his first year. In addition to taxonomy, mains a natural oasis in the midst of dis• he eventually taught a total of five botany turbed portions of the Mojave Desert. courses that covered the field. And despite his very busy schedule, he began the Munz's work at Pomona College was distin• Pomona College Herbarium. guished, and he was promoted to full professor by 1926. Because his concerns for Alice McCully, daughter of the chairman of the affairs of the College ranged beyond the the English Department of Pomona College Botany Department, he was named Dean of and a Pomona College alumna, was his as• the Faculty in 1942. However, he was most sistant one year in the biology course. Al•
107 Between 1919 and 1974 Munz wrote 128 happy when studying or teaching about scientific papers and seven books. Califor• plants, and did not want to advance into ad• nia native cacti, agaves, yuccas, dudleyas, ministrative posts, entirely isolating him and sedums were featured in his books. As from botany. Director Emeritus, he continued writing with unabated eagerness. In addition to In 1944 Munz returned to Cornell Univer• writing four wildflower books {California sity as a Professor of Botany and was asso• Desert Wildflowers, 122 pages, published in ciated with the Bailey Hortorium. The Mun• 1962, contains many color plates of succu• zes fully expected to stay at Cornell, but in lent plants), he produced monographs on 1946 an opportunity too challenging to re• Onagraceae and on Delphinium. Moreover, sist surfaced—a chance to become the Ran• he began writing the 1086-page A Flora of cho Santa Ana Botanic Garden director. Southern California, which appeared shortly after his death. In many ways, it is This position offered a challenge, but cer• considered his finest piece of botanical tainly not the luxury of a well-established work. institution. Located in the Santa Ana Can• yon between Anaheim and Santa Ana, the Munz received many honors during his life• Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden began as time, including a special award of merit a portion of a large ranch. Susanna Bixby from the Botanical Society of America. Bryant had founded this Botanic Garden in Plants named for him are Echinocereus 1927 for the display and study of California munzii, Iris munzii, Layia munzii, Opuntia native plants. munzii, and Munzothamnus. More might have been named for him had he been less The Botanic Garden was moved to an en• industrious in describing his own discover• tirely new site in Claremont in 1950 and a ies. building was erected. Both the Rancho In 1950 the CSSA named Munz a Fellow. Santa Ana Botanic Garden and Pomona The certificate citation reads, "Botanist, College herbaria were housed at the new plantsman, and friend of the Society." building, and library holdings of both insti• tutions were merged. Alice Munz, as the li• In addition to hard work, he had a keen brarian, began the daunting task of collating sense of what made good science, and he and curating an outstanding library. highly praised the accomplishments of oth• ers. Phil Munz died on April 10, 1974, at While occupied as the Garden director, age 82. Munz began a preposterously large effort: the writing of A California Flora (in col• Larry W. laboration with David D. Keck) published Mitich in 1959. To update this work, he wrote a 2223 Ama• Supplement, which is currently issued as an dor Avenue integral part of the book. The 1681 pages of Davis, CA the Flora and the 224 pages of the Supple• 95616 • ment do not convey the enormity of the work involved. Without his perseverance, steadiness, expertise, and broad outlook, this vast achievement would have been im• possible.
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