Julia Morton
Encyclopedia
Julia Francis McHugh Morton (April 25, 1912 – September 10, 1996) was an American author and botanist. She was research professor of biology, and director of the Morton Collectanea at the University of Miami
. She was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London
in 1974. Well-known as a lecturer on toxic, edible and otherwise useful plants, she wrote 10 books and 94 scientific papers, and contributed to an additional 12 books and 27 papers.
to live with her brother. She worked as a commercial artist for several years and married Kendal Paul Morton (1897–1964), a Canadian. By 1933 they had begun work on collating information on food, medicinal, and other
useful plants. They assembled copies or clippings of existing material and filed it away in file cabinets. They housed this compilation in an office near the New York Public Library, and it soon became known as The Morton Collectanea in academia.
started, the Mortons returned to Canada, where Kendal planned to enter military service and edit a military camp newspaper. However he failed his physical examination due to a heart murmur, and was exempted from service. Rather than remain in Canada or the US as civilians, the Mortons chose to move to the Bahamas
. They placed most of the Collectanea in storage, but took entries on tropical fruits with them to Nassau
, believing them likely to be useful.
By consulting and adding to the files they brought with them to Nassau and by their studies of the plant life there, the Mortons prepared the manuscript and illustrations for their first publication, Fifty Tropical Fruits of Nassau. Julia proved to be an excellent photographer and photographically illustrated nearly all of her subsequent publications. The book of 101 pages was published in 1946. A contemporary review in Plant Physiology characterized it as "well recommended by qualified botanists" and calling it "richly illustrated" and "quite complete"
in association with George Ruehle and Dr. Bruce Ledin. Working with Ledin they produced the manuscript for the book 400 Plants of South Florida. Their work came to the attention of the president of the University of Miami
, Bowman Foster Ashe
, who offered them positions as professors at the Coral Gables campus.
President Ashe approved setting up the Collectanea at the new campus, and with the aid of professor Taylor Alexander, the files were installed in a new, more spacious location, and students employed to select and organize new material. This allowed the Collectanea to be expanded, and visiting scholars had room to work and free access to the material. By 1996 the Collectanea had grown to 500 file drawers and included approximately 15,000 species, but remained a manually collated and indexed resource.
Although their initial work was on edible plants, their area of interest increased to cover poisonous plants as well as useful ones, both edible and ornamental. Additional books were published, and a suggestion that Julia's plant photographs were suitable for charts inspired the creation of two wall posters of "Plants Poisonous to People," one focusing on internally poisonous plants, and the other on skin and respirator irritants.
Kendal Morton died in 1964, according to her book 500 Plants of South Florida 1974, but Julia continued their research and field work. Morton did research into use of plants in the treatment of cancer in the West Indies at the behest of the National Cancer Institute
. She also did research into edible plants to aid in survival situations in the Philippines and Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War
, and wrote survival instructions for troops. Morton also conducted surveys of cashew and other edible nut plantations in Venezuela, Colombia and Peru.
Morton became known as an expert on plant poisonings and was often consulted by local authorities. She offered advice and worked to educate the public. Lawrence Kaplan, an emeritus professor of botany at the University of Massachusetts
at Boston and editor of the journal of the Society of Economic Botany, which Mrs. Morton helped found, said "She was the poison plant center in South Florida". Starting in 1954 when she began consulting for them, the Poison Control Center referred most plant poison calls to her. Although she received an honorary doctorate from Florida State University
in 1973, she never formally attended college.
Morton continued to write, lecture, and answer inquiries at the Collectanea even after retiring. She retired from teaching in 1993, after being a University of Miami professor for about 4 decades. She was critically injured in an automobile accident on August 28, 1996 and died on September 10, 1996.
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
. She was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London
Linnean Society of London
The Linnean Society of London is the world's premier society for the study and dissemination of taxonomy and natural history. It publishes a zoological journal, as well as botanical and biological journals...
in 1974. Well-known as a lecturer on toxic, edible and otherwise useful plants, she wrote 10 books and 94 scientific papers, and contributed to an additional 12 books and 27 papers.
Early life
Morton was born Julia Francis McHugh, on April 25, 1912 in Middlebury, Vermont, and grew up on a 100 acre (0.404686 km²) farm in rural Vermont where she was interested in agriculture, the outdoors, and natural resources. At the age of 15, her mother and sister died, and she went to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to live with her brother. She worked as a commercial artist for several years and married Kendal Paul Morton (1897–1964), a Canadian. By 1933 they had begun work on collating information on food, medicinal, and other
useful plants. They assembled copies or clippings of existing material and filed it away in file cabinets. They housed this compilation in an office near the New York Public Library, and it soon became known as The Morton Collectanea in academia.
The war and the first publication
When World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
started, the Mortons returned to Canada, where Kendal planned to enter military service and edit a military camp newspaper. However he failed his physical examination due to a heart murmur, and was exempted from service. Rather than remain in Canada or the US as civilians, the Mortons chose to move to the Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
. They placed most of the Collectanea in storage, but took entries on tropical fruits with them to Nassau
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
, believing them likely to be useful.
By consulting and adding to the files they brought with them to Nassau and by their studies of the plant life there, the Mortons prepared the manuscript and illustrations for their first publication, Fifty Tropical Fruits of Nassau. Julia proved to be an excellent photographer and photographically illustrated nearly all of her subsequent publications. The book of 101 pages was published in 1946. A contemporary review in Plant Physiology characterized it as "well recommended by qualified botanists" and calling it "richly illustrated" and "quite complete"
Life in Florida and further work
After the war ended the Mortons were invited to work at the Subtropical Experimental Station in Homestead, FloridaHomestead, Florida
Homestead is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States nestled between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west. Homestead is primarily a Miami suburb and a major agricultural area....
in association with George Ruehle and Dr. Bruce Ledin. Working with Ledin they produced the manuscript for the book 400 Plants of South Florida. Their work came to the attention of the president of the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
, Bowman Foster Ashe
Bowman Foster Ashe
Bowman Foster Ashe was a U.S. educator who served as the first president of the University of Miami.Ashe attended Mount Union College and then transferred to the University of Pittsburgh were he earned a Bachelor of Science degree In 1910. After graduation, he took a job teaching English and...
, who offered them positions as professors at the Coral Gables campus.
President Ashe approved setting up the Collectanea at the new campus, and with the aid of professor Taylor Alexander, the files were installed in a new, more spacious location, and students employed to select and organize new material. This allowed the Collectanea to be expanded, and visiting scholars had room to work and free access to the material. By 1996 the Collectanea had grown to 500 file drawers and included approximately 15,000 species, but remained a manually collated and indexed resource.
Although their initial work was on edible plants, their area of interest increased to cover poisonous plants as well as useful ones, both edible and ornamental. Additional books were published, and a suggestion that Julia's plant photographs were suitable for charts inspired the creation of two wall posters of "Plants Poisonous to People," one focusing on internally poisonous plants, and the other on skin and respirator irritants.
Kendal Morton died in 1964, according to her book 500 Plants of South Florida 1974, but Julia continued their research and field work. Morton did research into use of plants in the treatment of cancer in the West Indies at the behest of the National Cancer Institute
National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health , which is one of 11 agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NCI coordinates the U.S...
. She also did research into edible plants to aid in survival situations in the Philippines and Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, and wrote survival instructions for troops. Morton also conducted surveys of cashew and other edible nut plantations in Venezuela, Colombia and Peru.
Morton became known as an expert on plant poisonings and was often consulted by local authorities. She offered advice and worked to educate the public. Lawrence Kaplan, an emeritus professor of botany at the University of Massachusetts
University of Massachusetts
This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...
at Boston and editor of the journal of the Society of Economic Botany, which Mrs. Morton helped found, said "She was the poison plant center in South Florida". Starting in 1954 when she began consulting for them, the Poison Control Center referred most plant poison calls to her. Although she received an honorary doctorate from Florida State University
Florida State University
The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
in 1973, she never formally attended college.
Morton continued to write, lecture, and answer inquiries at the Collectanea even after retiring. She retired from teaching in 1993, after being a University of Miami professor for about 4 decades. She was critically injured in an automobile accident on August 28, 1996 and died on September 10, 1996.
Partial list of publications
This is a representative list rather than an exhaustive one:- Fifty Tropical Fruits of Nassau (1946)
- 400 Plants of South Florida (1949)
- Some Useful and Ornamental Plants of the Caribbean Gardens (Botanical gardens, 1955)
- The Mamey (Florida State Horticultural Society, 1962)
- Exotic Plants (1973) translated into French as Plantes exotiques
- The Atlas of Medicinal Plants of Middle America (C.C. Thomas, 1981).
- Wild plants for survival in south Florida (1982)
- Fruits of Warm Climates (1987)
Honors
- Research Professor of Biology and Director of the Morton Collectanea, University of Miami
- Florida State UniversityFlorida State UniversityThe Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
honorary doctorate for her research and writings for the National Institutes of HealthNational Institutes of HealthThe National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
and the US Department of Defense, 1973. - Elected FellowFellowA fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
of the Linnean Society of LondonLinnean Society of LondonThe Linnean Society of London is the world's premier society for the study and dissemination of taxonomy and natural history. It publishes a zoological journal, as well as botanical and biological journals...
, 1974. - Named the first Distinguished Economic Botanist by the international Society for Economic Botany, 1978.
- Served as President of the Florida State Horticultural Society, 1979.