Robert H. Mohlenbrock
In SIUC Botany from 1957 to 1990
Robert H. Mohlenbrock was born September 26, 1931 in Murphysboro
Illinois. His love for plants and nature was instilled in him
early in his life, particularly through the influence of a Murphysboro
High School teacher who encouraged his natural history investigations
(see photo below). He enrolled at Southern Illinois University in
the fall of 1949 and earned his B.S. in 1953. He continued on at
SIU and
received his M.A. in Botany in 1954 working with Dr. John Voigt,
one of only five faculty members in the Department at that time. After
just three years of
work at Washington University in St. Louis, he received his Ph.D. in
1957. His interest in the flora of Illinois brought him back to his
home town area and to SIU when he accepted an assistant professorship
position in the fall of 1957.
His distinguished career at SIUC spanned 33 years, including 12 years
as Chair of Botany. Bob's achievement and contributions to SIU were
acknowledged with the awarding of the rank of Distinguished Professor
in 1985 and the Southern Illinois University Outstanding Scholar Award
in 1988. He also received numerous teaching awards, including Southern
Illinois University Alumni Great Teacher Award (1978), Meritorius
Teacher Award from the Association of Southeastern Biologists (1984),
and College of Science Outstanding Teacher Award (1986) and SIUC's
AMOCO Outstanding Teacher of the Year (1986). He was selected as the
Audubon Society's Conservationist of the Year in 1979. His special
research interests focused primarily on the illustrated flora of
Illinois, monographic studies of selected plant families, documentation
of rare and endangered species, and plants of the national parks of the
United States.
Bob's life-long work with the flora of Illinois established him as the
authority on the plants of Illinois. He began his survey of forest
trees of southern Illinois while a junior at Murphysboro High School
and he continues to document flora of the United States. His
Illustrated Flora of Illinois (begun in 1963) is printed by University
Press at SIUC. This multivolume work aims to describe and
illustrate every plant known to occur in the state of Illinois.
Before endangered species and natural areas preservation became
popular, Bob was preparing lists of species and natural areas which he
felt merited study for possible preservation. His book entitled Where Have All the Wildflowers Gone?
has been widely acclaimed in this country and abroad as the outstanding
book on endangered species of plants. He has published other books of
national scope, including two field guides with Macmillan Publishing
Company: Field Guide to North American Wildflowers and Field Guide to
North American Trees. Bob has been a featured columnist for the
prestigious Natural History magazine since 1984, writing a column
entitled This Land about the national parks and forests.
For Robert Mohlenbrock's CV as of December 2006, please click HERE for the pdf file.
Photo from 1949 when Robert Mohlenbrock (right) was 18 years old,
already demonstrating his fascination and aptitude with southern
Illinois floristics. The fellow on the left is Kenneth D. Stewart who
also went on to a distinguished career as a botanist at Miami
University, Oxford, OH. |
Photo 1957 |
Photo 1959 |
Photo April 1965 |
Photo 1969 |
Robert Mohlenbrock, wife Beverly and a friend enjoying the outdoors in Southern Illinois
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