Robert Root Ireland (1932–2020)

Abstract

Some people make an enormous difference without making huge splash. Gentle, modest Robert Root Ireland was one of Canada’s foremost bryologists and a key role model in many natural history careers. His legendary hard work, accuracy, and attention to detail set a highly motivating standard. His generosity and kindness encouraged others to be the same. His actions spoke persuasively, while he himself said as little as possible to call attention to his excellence and considerable influence. Bob was born, raised and educated in the state of Kansas, U.S.A. By the time he had earned his B.A. from the University of Kansas in 1956, he had also served a year in the navy, and had found his wife and lifelong partner, Ellen. He graduated with an M.A. (Botany) in 1957, having completed his thesis on ‘‘Biosystematics of Erythronium albidum and E. mesochoreum.’’ That same year, his bryological career began when he obtained the position of Herbarium Aid in Cryptogams at the United States National Herbarium (Smithsonian Institution). A year later, he advanced to Assistant Curator of Bryophytes. Learning very effectively on the job, Bob published his first bryology papers during those early years at the Smithsonian. He also attended a bryophyte course at the University of Michigan Biological Station, where he began an enduring friendship with mentor A. J. Sharp, who Bob affectionately dubbed ‘‘Uncle Jack.’’ At Sharp’s urging, in 1962, Bob became assistant to University of Washington (Seattle) professor, Elva Lawton, who was newly funded to create the Moss Flora of the Pacific Northwest (Lawton 1971). This work launched his interest in chromosome studies, which he undertook in support of the flora project. Soon, he also began to work on his Ph.D. studying the moss genus Plagiothecium in North America. After completing his doctorate in 1966, Bob was hired as Curator of Bryophytes at the Canadian National Museum of Natural Sciences (now the Canadian Museum of Nature, CMN) in Ottawa, Canada, replacing Howard Crum, who had held the post since 1954 before moving to the University of Michigan. In this role, Bob assumed responsibility for curating a relatively small but significant national bryophyte collection (CANM) that was founded in the 1800s by ‘Dominion Botanist’ John Macoun. In fact, when Bob arrived, the herbarium was still crowded into the same historic stone building where Macoun himself had worked. However, as the heavy Victorian edifice sank a few centimeters each year into the soft clay on which it had been built, the Botany collection soon moved to an ill-suited (if roomier) ‘‘temporary’’ home in an Ottawa office building . . . where it remained for more than thirty years. Despite the challenges, the collection grew from fewer than 100,000 to more than 250,000 specimens during Bob’s curatorship, through active exchanges with a multitude of institutions around the world, a busy donation-in-return-for-identification program, field work, adoption of orphan collections, and some judicious purchasing of private collections. The location of the herbarium, on a transit line, at the edge of a residential neighborhood, was easy for visitors of all ages and experience to access, and Bob’s attentive welcome developed a wide circle of devoted—and increasingly expert—specimen contributors. Herbarium users consistently enjoyed up-to-date taxonomy and organization, thanks to Bob’s conscientious, hands-on approach to curation. As a research scientist, Bob pursued moss floristics, morphology, and taxonomy, with particular attention to the families Plagiotheciaceae and 3 Corresponding author’s e-mail: jdoubt@nature.ca DOI: 10.1639/0007-2745-126.2.217