Merritt Lyndon Fernald Award
Merritt Lyndon Fernald was born in 1873 in Orono, Maine. In 1891 he enrolled in Harvard University and started working at the Gray Herbarium, both of which he remained associated with until his death in 1950. During those 60 years he intensively studied the flora of eastern North America, made numerous field expeditions throughout the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, and authored over 800 papers on floristically related subjects. Two of his most important contributions were: Persistence of Plants in Unglaciated Areas of Boreal North America (1925) and Gray's Manual of Botany, 8th Edition (1950). Fernald served as an Associate Editor of Rhodora, Journal of The New England Botanical Club from its inception in 1899 to 1928, and as Editor-in-Chief from 1928 until his death in 1950. He was an active member and promoter of the Club.
The Council of the New England Botanical Society honors Fernald's exemplary contributions to the botany of northeastern North America through the Merritt Lyndon Fernald Award. The award is given annually, if deemed appropriate, to the author(s) of the best paper published in each volume of Rhodora that has made use of herbarium specimens and/or involved fieldwork. Topics to be considered include, but are not limited to, biogeography, floristics, life-history studies, monographs, and revisions. Papers on vascular or nonvascular plants, lichens, fungi, and algae will be considered. The competition is not limited to a particular geographic area, but is open to studies in any part of the world.
Recipients of the Fernald Award will receive $1000.00 and a certificate acknowledging the achievement. The award is usually presented at the May New England Botanical Society meeting.
Fernald Award Winners
2022 (Volume 124): Olivia A. Asher and Naveed Davoodian. "Boletes in the Bronx and beyond: A study of Boletales (Agaricomycetes, Basidiomycota, Fungi) specimen records of New York City." The paper can be found here. Members should use BioOne portal for free access.
Stacy Taylor-Bennetts and Foster Levy. "Factors associated with the transition to weediness in the granite outcrop endemic, Phacelia dubia var. georgiana (Hydrophyllaceae), and dating the time of the transition." The paper can be found here. Members should use BioOne portal for free access.
Read more…
2021 (Volume 123): Janet R. Sullivan and Mare Nazaire. "Specimen collection and preparation for a changing flora." Read more… The paper can be found here. Printable checklist of reminders for field collecting. PDF
2020 (Volume 122): Amanda K. Weise, Peter P. Grima, Matthew Charpentier, Margaret Curtin, and Gregory Palermo. "Rediscoveries of Dichanthelium scoparium (Poaceae) in southern New England
and evaluation of past records from New England and New York." Read more…
2019 (Volume 121): Kevin Berend, Kristen Haynes, and Caitlin McDonough MacKenzie. "Common garden experiments as a dynamic tool for ecological studies of alpine plants and communities in eastern North America." Read more… The paper can be found here.
2018 (Volume 120): Matthew L. Carlson, E. Jamie Trammell, Timm Nawrocki and Edward Noongwook. "Additions to the vascular flora of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska: New records, rare species, and phytogeographic patterns." Read more… The paper can be found here. Members should use BioOne portal for free access.
2017 (Volume 119): Jesse Bellemare, Bryan Connolly, and Dov F. Sax. "Climate change, managed relocation, and the risk of intra-continental plant invasions: A theoretical and empirical exploration relative to the flora of New England." Read more... The paper can be found here.
2016 (Volume 118): Robert S. Capers and Nancy G. Slack. "A baseline study of alpine snowbed and rill communities on Mount Washington, NH." Read more... The paper can be found here. Members should use BioOne portal for free access.
2015 (Volume 117): Scott W. Bailey, Joann Hoy, and Charles V. Cogbill. "Vascular flora and geoecology of Mont de la Table, Gaspésie, Québec." Read more... The paper can be found here. Members should use BioOne portal for free access.
2014 (Volume 116): Claire Berger O'Dea. "The relationship between coastal plain pond vegetation and environment at local and broad spatial scales." Read more...
2013 (Volume 115): Jeremy C. Nettleton, Arthur C. Mathieson, Carol Thornber, Christopher D. Neefus, and Charles Yarish. "Introduction of Gracilaria vermiculophylla (Rhodophyta, Gracilariales) to New England, USA: Estimated Arrival Times and Current Distribution." Read more...
2012 (Volume 114): Bryan T. Hamlin, Walter T. Kittredge, Donald P. Lubin, and Elizabeth Barton Wright. "Changes in the Vascular Flora of the Middlesex Fells Reservation, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from 1895 to 2011." Read more...
2011 (Volume 113): Lucas C. Majure, JoVonn Hill, Chris Doffitt, & Terrence C. Majure. "The vascular flora of Lauderdale, County, Mississippi, U.S.A." Read more...
2010 (Volume 112): Sean C. Robinson, Edwin H. Ketchledge, Brian T. Fitzgerald, Dudley J. Raynal, and Robin W. Kimmerer. "A 23-Year Assessment of Vegetation Composition and Change in the Adirondack Alpine Zone, New York State." Read more...
2009 (Volume 111): James L. Reveal. "Identification of the plant and associated animal images in Catesby's Natural History, with nomenclatural notes and comments." Read more...
2008 (Volume 110): William F. Nichols and Virginia C. Nichols. "The land use history, flora, and natural communities of the Isles of Shoals, Rye, New Hampshire and Kittery, Maine." Read more...
2007 (Volume 109): David S. Barrington and Catherine A. Paris. "Refugia and migration in the Quaternary history of the New England flora." Read more...
2006 (Volume 108): Paul M. Catling. "Characteristics of Amelanchier lucida (Rosaceae) based on an examination of the holotype and plants from the type locality." Read more...
2005 (Volume 107): The late Craig W. Greene, Linda L. Gregory, Glen H. Mittelhauser, Sally C. Rooney, and Jill E. Weber. "Vascular flora of the Acadia National Park region, Maine." Read more...
2004 (Volume 106): Walter S. Judd and Darin S. Penneys. "Taxonomic studies in the Miconieae (Melastomataceae). VIII. A revision of the species in the Miconia desportesii complex on Hispaniola." Read more...
2003 (Volume 105): Arthur C. Mathieson, Clinton J. Dawes, Larry G. Harris, and Edward J. Hehre. "Expansion of the Asiatic green alga Codium fragile subsp. tomentosoides in the Gulf of Maine."
2002 (Volume 104): Robert Bertin. "Losses of native plant species in Worcester, Massachusetts."