Rolla Milton Tryon Jr.
Rolla Milton Tryon Jr., Professor of Biology and curator of ferns in the Gray Herbarium, an authority on the taxonomy and geography of ferns and fern allies, died the 20th of August of 2001, six days before his 85th birthday. Tryon spent his life studying the Pteridophyta, ferns and fern allies. This group of vascular plants represents an early evolutionary branch in the land plants. They once dominated the vegetation of the planet, and their fossilized remains gave rise of much of the carbon deposits of the world. Outside of horticultural and ornamental importance ferns largely hold a place as organisms of interest in understanding the history of terrestrial vegetation and in understand the earth over time and space. He was born on August 26, 1916, in Chicago, where his father was a professor of American history and education at the University of Chicago. An A.A. degree in 1935 was followed by...