When it comes to plants, he knows his stuff

Larry Brown teaches and has contributed to several plant books and written numerous professional papers.

“For most of my years I’ve been a plant taxonomist. I get hired to identify plants.

“My most interesting work has been in the Big Thicket here in Texas. I have a species list, so I find the plants and write scientific papers on them. I’m working on a big species list right now with a friend of mine in the Beaumont Unit of the Big Thicket.”

What are you most known for in your field?
“Well, I discovered a new species over in the hillside bogs in east Texas. The genus is Rudbeckia. The family is Asteraceae. It’s a sunflower called Rudbeckia Scabrifolia, a roughleaf coneflower. I was the one who recognized the difference from all the others. Since then, I also found it in Louisiana. I wrote a paper and had somebody make a drawing of the plant. But it’s professional journals, so it’s not really well known by the public.

“It’s still fascinating work to me, although I’m not going strong like I used to. I do it mostly by myself. My wife or grandkids, they don’t want to go out with me anymore. These days, it’s more like a hobby. But I plan to keep doing it as long as I can.”

— Larry Brown, 78