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By Ron Wilson
On August 3rd of this year, The Nature Conservancy lost one of its best friends. Frank Hirst, a botanical legend in the Middle Atlantic area passed away from heart complications.
Frank began his career as a naturalist and botanist extraordinaire in the Pine Barrens region of New Jersey. Along with his brother Bob, they found countless rare plants there. Perhaps the most notable was a grass that was new to science and later named in their honor, Hirst’s Panic Grass (Panicum hirstii now Dichanthelium hirstii).
In 1971 Frank moved down to the Eastern Shore of Maryland to get away from the ever encroaching development of coastal New Jersey. Being a plumber by trade, he decided to teach at the Worcester County Vocational School. He took advantage of his summers off by botanizing the new areas he found on the Delmarva Peninsula.
In the early 1980’s, he did a great deal of botanical survey work for the then fledgling Maryland Natural Heritage Program. Many of the more promising areas he discovered were later purchased and turned into Nature Preserves by the MD/DC Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. The rare plants that Frank found are far too numerous to list here. He also donated countless hours of volunteer work for the Conservancy, especially at the Nassawango Creek Preserve.
In 1989 I was just beginning my botanical career. Frank took me under his wing and greatly accelerated my climb up the learning curve. During our many years of botanizing together, I helped Frank carry on his legacy. Perhaps the greatest of our discoveries was in 1990, when we found the Curly-grass Fern (Schizaea pusilla) in Delaware. Before that day, the rather odd range of this fern was Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Long Island, New Jersey, and Peru. The news of this discovery set the botanical world on its ear.
Frank had a stock answer to a question he was often asked, “What is your favorite wildflower?” His answer was always, “It’s the one I have in my hand right now.” I think that summed up Frank’s philosophy very accurately. He appreciated everything that nature had to offer and felt it was all worth saving. He will be missed.
Ron Wilson is a professional botanist and has conducted botanical surveys for The Nature Conservancy for over a decade.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Ron Wilson (Hybrid orchid Platanthera x canbyi); Photo © Wes Knapp (Frank Hirst with the author Ron Wilson).
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