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.
|