The Field Notes of Reid Moran
Dr. Reid Moran (1916 - 2010) was Curator of Botany at the San Diego Natural History Museum from 1957 to 1982. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley in 1951, after serving as a navigator in the Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1946.

Moran specialized in the systematics of the Crassulaceae (Stonecrop Family), and in the flora of the peninsula of Baja California. In addition to his large body of technical research papers, he wrote the Flora of Guadalupe Island, Mexico and the treatment of the Crassulaceae for the Flora of North America (Vol. 8, published in 2009)., and also co-authored (with Frank W. Gould--"Gould knew the grasses; I knew Baja") the Grasses of Baja California, Mexico, and (with Geoffrey A. Levin, his successor as curator) the Vascular Flora of Isla Socorro, Mexico.

As an explorer of Baja California, he spent much of his time traveling by truck, mule, and boat to the most remote and obscure mountains, canyons, and rocks of the peninsula and its waters. He kept meticulous and often entertaining field notebooks documenting his travels and his botanical collections. He shares renown for the floristics of the region in the last half of the 20th century with Ira Wiggins of Stanford, Robert Thorne of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, George Lindsay of the California Academy of Sciences, and Annetta Carter of UC Berkeley. In addition to his research expeditions in the peninsula, Reid gained a devoted following among museum members as a leader of field trips throughout Baja California.

Dr. Moran passed away 21 January, 2010 in Clearlake, California.

Read Jane Goodall's commentary describing Moran's role in the conservation efforts on Guadalupe Island.
                                                                       
                                                          

Photo from the Belvedere Expedition to the Gulf of California, March 16, 1962, at Puerto Refugio, Isla Angel de la Guarda
This web page presents the results of a project to digitize and index Dr. Moran's 18 volumes of field notes. It was completed thanks to many hours of work by the generous and dedicated volunteers of the SDNHM Botany Department.



Search the Field Notes
Your search will result in a page or list of pages below. Click a page number to see that page. (Or select Page# to go directly to that page.)
Find:   in:
1. To find a Moran specimen number, use the database search page on this web site (requires login). Or use the Consortium of California Herbaria.
2. Refer to the Table of Contents for subject matter by page numbers.
The Botany department would like to thank the following volunteers for their participation in this project. Page scanning by Wanda Brock, Harriet Morris, and Mary Alice Kessler. Indexing by Janet Merritt, Frank J. Jessie III, Celia Condit, Jerry C. Green, Dick Schwenkmeyer, Karen Rich, and Suzie Schudson.

BajaFlora Home           SDNHM Botany           SDNHM Home
© 2009 San Diego Natural History Museum