Patricia Kern Holmgren


Patricia Holmgren is an American botanist. Holmgren's main botanical interests are the flora of the U.S. intermountain west and the genera Tiarella and Thlaspi. Holmgren was the director of the herbarium at the New York Botanical Garden from 1981–2000, and editor of Index Herbariorum from 1974–2008.

Life

Patricia May Kern was born to Robert Evan Kern and Ruth Eleanor Beaudoin Kern in 1940, in Athens, Indiana. Her parents began raising Christmas trees in 1946, and Holmgren spent part of her summers trimming trees and weekends in the fall and winter helping with the business. Holmgren was introduced to nature at an early age; through her father's conservation work on their property, and during family vacations to western national parks during the farm's off-season. From fifth grade to her high school graduation, Holmgren was active in 4-H, winning many contests in forestry and sewing.
Holmgren attended high school at Rochester High School in Rochester, Indiana, graduating in 1958 as valedictorian. Holmgren attended Indiana University, getting a B.S. in 1962. She later attended the University of Washington, completing a M.S. in 1964 and a Ph.D. in 1968. At the University of Washington, Holmgren completed a systematic study of Tiarella with advisor Arthur R. Kruckeberg. She remained at the University of Washington for her Ph.D., a systematic study of the Thlaspi montanum group, with advisor C. Leo Hitchcock. In addition to her own research, Holmgren became chief editorial assistant during the preparation of the last two volumes of the Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest with Hitchcock.
Patricia married fellow botanist Noel H. Holmgren in 1969.

Career

After completing her Ph.D. at the University of Washington, Holmgren accepted a job as herbarium specialist at the New York Botanical Garden in 1968. Holmgren spent her entire working career at NYBG, eventually becoming the Director of the Herbarium in 1981, a position she held until her retirement in 2000. As director of The William and Lynda Steere Herbarium, Holmgren insisted on the highest possible standards for specimen management and for keeping the herbarium in the forefront on new innovations. Holmgren was also instrumental in conception, fundraising, and design of a new, state-of-the-art building to house the herbarium, the International Plant Science Center, which officially opened for research in 2002. Holmgren continues to work at the garden as Director Emerita of the herbarium.
In addition to her herbarium leadership, Holmgren played an active role in a number of botanical societies and botanical journals:
Patricia Holmgren and Noel Holmgren were instrumental to the completion of Intermountain Flora: Vascular Plants of the Intermountain West, U.S.A., a nine-volume flora on the vascular plants of the western United States between the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada ranges. In addition to collecting many herbarium specimens that would provide the baseline data for descriptions and geographic distributions; Patricia was involved in editing, proofreading, and writing family treatments for the flora.

Awards

Plant species named after Patricia Holmgren

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