Troyer, James R.

The North Carolina Botanists collection was assembled by North Carolina State University Professor, James R. Troyer, during his research and production of articles about each of the individuals represented here. These men made notable contributions to the state of North Carolina through their work as educators, administrators, and devoted scientists.

North Carolina State University Professor of Botany James R. Troyer has written biographical articles about several North Carolina botanists, as well as Nature's Champion : B.W. Wells, Tar Heel Ecologist .

Donald B. Anderson had a distinguished career as a teacher and administrator, during his many years of involvement in the North Carolina system of higher education. Born in Schoolcraft, Michigan, in 1899, he received his undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as his PhD. at Ohio State University. He served as a botany professor at the University of Wisconsin from 1923-1924, but left for North Carolina in 1925, after completing his PhD. work. Anderson worked at North Carolina State College until 1958, teaching courses on plant physiology and other botanical topics. During this era, Anderson also published much scholarship on the wall structure of cotton fibers and coauthored the textbook, Plant Physiology, with B.S. Meyer, in 1939. Anderson also served as Program Director in Education in the Sciences at the National Acience Foundation, from 1956-1957. Anderson's administrative role in North Carolina's higher education system was also significant. During his time at North Carolina State College he held the positions of department head, head of the Division of Biological Sciences, and dean of the Graduate School. Anderson's contributions to the state of North Carolina were recognized in 1951, with the O. Max Gardner Award. In 1958, he moved to Chapel Hill, taking the position of provost of the Consolidated University of North Carolina, an entity which supervises all public universities and colleges in the state. From 1960-1968, he worked as vice president of academic affairs for the Consolidated University. After his retirement, he continued to teach courses at the universities in Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Greensboro. Dr. Anderson in 1994, at the age of 94.

Hardy Bryan Croom was born to a prominent family in Lenoir County, N.C., in 1797. Croom married Frances Henrietta Smith in 1821 and became involved in politics. He moved to Florida in 1830, to manage the estate of hs deceased father and developed a keen botanical interest. In 1833 he and Dr. H. Loomis produced the Catalogue of Plants Observed in the Neighborhood of New Bern, North Carolina. Croom is also credited with discovering one of the rarest coniferous trees, the Torreya taxifolium, named for Dr. John Torrey. Another species discovered by Croom was named Croomia pauciflora, in his honor. Croom, along with his wife and children, died in 1837, when the steamboat on which they were travelling sank off the coast of North Carolina.

North Carolina's Hyams family produced three important botanists. Mordecai E. Hyams was born in Charleston, S.C., in 1819. In 1861 he moved to Charlotte to purchase botnical materials to be used in the production of medication for Confederate soldiers. Hyams himself enlisted, ran the medical supply department in Charlotte, N.C., and then moved to Statesville. Hyams continued in the drug manufacturing business. most notably, he was botanist and manager for the Wallace Brothers Herbarium. Charles Walter and George often accopanied their father on expeditions to gather and identify plants. M.E. Hyams is known to be responsible for discovering 166 new plant species in North Carolina. In 1878, the Hyams' fmaily rediscovered the rare Shortia galacifolia along the Catawba River in McDowell County. M.E. Hyams died in 1891 and George did not contunue to be involved in science, but C.W. Hyams remained involved in botany. Charles worked as an instructor in botany and entomology at the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts and also worked at the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station. Dismissed by the college's board of trustees, in 1901, Hyams went to prison for reselling stolen books, in 1907. When released, he became a recluse, occasionally contributing articles to the local newspaper and died in 1941. George spent his career as the postmaster and owner of a general store in Old Fort, N.C. and died in 1932.