Wilfred Borden Schofield

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Wilfred "Wilf" Borden Schofield (19 July 1927, Brooklyn Corner, Kings County, Nova Scotia – 5 November 2008) was a Canadian botanist, specializing in mosses and liverworts. He was considered by many "the foremost bryologist in Canada".[1]

Biography

Wilfred B. Schofield, who had two brothers and a sister,[2] grew up in Nova Scotia.[3] He received in 1950 a B.A. from Acadia University, where he was influenced by E. Chalmers Smith (1912–1992) and John S. Erskine (1900–1981).[1][4][5] In 1951 Schofield obtained a Class A teacher's license from Nova Scotia Normal College. From 1951 to 1954 he was a high school geology teacher in Nova Scotia. He became in 1954 a graduate student at Stanford University,[6] where he met Margaret "Peggy" Irene Bledsoe (1931–2005). In 1956 they both received their M.A.s (he in botany and she in music) and married in the autumn of that year.[7] After their honeymoon, the newlyweds moved to Nova Scotia, where Wilfred Schofield spent the winter teaching high school. The couple spent the summer of 1957 doing field work in the Yukon and then in the autumn moved to North Carolina, where he became a graduate student at Duke University. There he received his Ph.D. in 1960. His dissertation, written under the supervision of Henry J. Oosting, is entitled The Ecotone between Spruce Fir and Deciduous Forest in the Great Smoky Mountains.[6] In the botany department of the University of British Columbia (UBC), Schofield became in 1960 an instructor and was eventually promoted to full professor, retiring in 1993.[7]

Since 1948, Wilf published more than 100 scholarly works, focusing on bryophyte genera from Arnellia to Wijkia, including treatments of more than 20 genera for the Flora of North America. The foundation of his scholarly contributions was his intimate knowledge of bryophytes in the field, reflected in Beaty Museum’s collections. When he came to UBC, the bryophyte collection held about 3000 specimens; today it numbers over 260,000, contributed through his collections, exchanges, the work of his students and postdocs, and through the reputation he built for UBC’s collection.[3]

From 1967 to 1969 he was the president of the

Sullivant Moss Society, which was renamed in 1970 the American Bryological and Lichenological Society. For his textbook Introduction to Bryology (Macmillan, 1985), the Canadian Botanical Association awarded him the George Lawson Medal for 1986.[7] In 1990 he was awarded an honorary D.Sc. by Acadia University.[8]

He collected plants not only in Canada and the mainland USA, but also in Australia, New Zealand,[9] Hawaii, Japan, and Taiwan.[7] He did most of his field work in British Columbia, especially Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands). In the last 15 years of his life, he spent summers collecting in the Aleutian Islands.[1]

His last collecting number was 128,619. It was a Bryum species collected from Umak Island, not long after the volcano erupted.[1]

Schofield was predeceased by his wife.[10] Upon his death he was survived by three daughters, and four grandchildren.[11]

Eponymy

Genera

Species

Selected publications

Articles

Books
The standard author abbreviation W.B.Schofield is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Belland, René (February 25, 2009). "Wilfred Borden Schofield (1927–2008)". Botanical Electronic News (404).
  2. ^ "Obituary. Eric Schofield". Serenity Funeral Home, Cambridge Station, Kings County, Nova Scotia. 2008.
  3. ^ a b "Wilf Schofield (1927–2008)". Botany Department, University of British Columbia (botany.ubc.ca).
  4. ^ "Smith, Ernest Chalmers". JSTOR Global Plants.
  5. ^ Coleman, Ed (16 January 2017). "Little Known County Historians".
  6. ^
    S2CID 131016793
    .
  7. ^ a b c d e Belland, René J.; Crum, Howard (July 1997). "A tribute to W. B. Schofield on his 70th birthday". J. Hattori Bot. Lab. (82): 1–14; with contribution by Dale H. Vitt{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  8. ^ "Honorary Degrees". Acadia University.
  9. ^ "Schofield, Wilfred Borden". JSTOR Global Plants.
  10. ^ "Class Notes. In Memoriam". Rochester Review. University of Rochester. Summer 2005.
  11. ^ "Obituary. Dr. Wilfred Borden Schofield". Vancouver Sun. November 14, 2008.
  12. ^ "Schofieldia". The Plant List.
  13. ^ "Schofieldiellia". The Plant List.
  14. ^ "Andreaea schofieldiana". The Plant List.
  15. ^ "Chaetomitrium schofieldii". The Plant List.
  16. ^ "Ctenidium schofieldii". The Plant List.
  17. ^ "Cladonia schofieldii". Plants Database, USDA.
  18. ^ "Plagiochila schofieldiana". The Plant List.
  19. ^ "Sphagnum wilfii". The Plant List.
  20. ^ "Plagiothecium schofieldii, a new species from the Aleutian Islands (Alaska, USA)". PhytoKeys.
  21. ^ International Plant Names Index.  W.B.Schofield.

External links

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