Elsie was more than a biology professor and ecologist –Jonathan Ertelt, Community
Saying what many students think: “Students of all ages are thankful
that her appreciation of the plant kingdom and the world around her
touched them and made their lives.”
In every piece written about Elsie Quarterman following her death at
age 103 in early June,
major space was devoted to the Middle
Tennessee cedar glade ecosystem where much of her work was focused.
The contributions of Quarterman and her graduate students to our
understanding of this ecosystem, its ongoing presence, and the
comeback of the critically endangered Tennessee coneflower are all
part of her well-deserved legacy.
But Quarterman, Vanderbilt professor of biology, emerita, one of the
country’s first prominent female ecologists, was not only out on the
cedar glades. I remember her from my nine years at Cheekwood
Botanical Garden in Nashville beginning in the late 1970s. By then
she was no longer acting director, but she was still there a lot.
She helped with tours to the cedar glades, but also was present any
time the Herb Society had functions there and was active in the
Tennessee Gesneriad Society, a group focused on the largely tropical
family best known for African violets.
I served with Elsie on the board of the
Tennessee Environmental Council
for several years. I remember traveling across the state
with her, talking about the “DYCs” (damned yellow
composites) among other roadside flora as we drove along, an
activity I now share with my family when we drive.
Elsie Quarterman was more than a biology professor and the ecologist
who heralded the cedar glades and the rediscovery of
Echinacea tennessensis.
She enabled many students and others through the many
communities in which she participated to view the world
differently—to see the plants and plant communities and to
recognize the specialness of these plants and their habitats, their
ecosystems.
Her legacy includes the coneflower and the cedar glades of Middle
Tennessee, without a doubt. But her real legacy is much larger.
Students of all ages are thankful that her appreciation of the plant
kingdom and the world around her touched them and made their lives
richer.
Saying what many students think: “Students of all ages are thankful
that her appreciation of the plant kingdom and the world around her
touched them and made their lives.”
major space was devoted to the Middle Tennessee cedar glade ecosystem where much of her work was focused. The contributions of Quarterman and her graduate students to our understanding of this ecosystem, its ongoing presence, and the comeback of the critically endangered Tennessee coneflower are all part of her well-deserved legacy.
But Quarterman, Vanderbilt professor of biology, emerita, one of the country’s first prominent female ecologists, was not only out on the cedar glades. I remember her from my nine years at Cheekwood Botanical Garden in Nashville beginning in the late 1970s. By then she was no longer acting director, but she was still there a lot. She helped with tours to the cedar glades, but also was present any time the Herb Society had functions there and was active in the
Tennessee Gesneriad Society, a group focused on the largely tropical family best known for African violets.
She enabled many students and others through the many communities in which she participated to view the world differently—to see the plants and plant communities and to recognize the specialness of these plants and their habitats, their ecosystems.