Part Two, by Jim Kimbrough - Mushroom, the Journal of Wild ...

The Twilight Years of William Alphonso Murrillby James W. KimbroughWhen I joined the faculty of the Universityof Florida in 1964 to assume anewly created Mycology position in thePlant Pathology Department, I quicklybecame aware of the tremendous impactDr. William A. Murrill had made duringhis tenure in Gainesville. There was alarge framed photograph just outside thedoor leading into the Herbarium and aplaque that read “In Memory of WilliamAlphonso Murrill, 1869-1957, Mycologist,Naturalist-Humanitarian, Friend”(Fig. 1). Requests to obtain loans ofMurrill’s types came almost weekly,and in retrieving those specimens fromthe cases, I was amazed at the numberof type species he had described locally.Realizing that a new mycologist was oncampus, many faculty and staff wouldask me if I knew Dr. Murrill, who theylovingly called “the Mushroom man.”Unfortunately, Dr. Murrill had passedaway almost seven years before I cameto the University.I was very fortunate, however, to meet Dr.George F. Weber, Professor of Plant Pathologyand the person responsible for teachingmycology before I came. Dr. Weber and ErdmanWest, Curator of the Herbarium, wereMurrill’s closest friends and Weber was theone who placed his photo and plaque outsidethe Herbarium. Much Many of the things thatI learned about Murrill came from GeorgeWeber, who after retirement visited my laband joined me on frequent field trips afterhis retirement. My greatest regret is that Idid not carry a tape recorder with me. This isespecially true of an a day-long outing withDr. Weber in which we had an opportunity fora day-long visit with Dr. Fred J. Seaver, whohad lived in Winter Park, Florida for close to15 years (Fig. 2, p. 24) after retiring from theNew York Botanical Garden. On that occasion,the 75-year-old Weber and the 90-yearoldSeaver shared one amusing anecdote afterthe other, inevitably turning to W. A. Murrill- Seaver wanting to know about Murrill’s lastyears in Gainesville, and Weber and I wantingto know more about Murrill’s activities at theNew York Botanical Garden.Figure 1: Plaque honoring Murrill atUniversity of Florida, GainesvilleFigure 2: Fred Seaver and GeorgeWeber in Winter ParkMurrill’s Pre-GainesvilleYearsMost of the early years of W. A.Murrill are covered in his obituaryin Mycologia, written by GeorgeWeber (1961). He was born in 1869to Samuel and Virginia Murrill onthe Pammell Farm near Lynchburg,Virginia. In his autobiography, Murrill(1945) tells of his grandparentsand parents and the pride he had inhis heritage. He speaks fondly abouthis four siblings and how well theydid in their professional lives. Duringthe early years, his family movedto three different farms in the area.He felt fortunate in being raised onfarms and in his book “Billy, the BoyNaturalist” (Murrill, 1918) recordsall of his exploits before the age oftwelve.Murrill started to school at theage of four, carrying his books andschool supplies a mile up the hillsidePage Summer 2003, Mushroom the Journal http://www.mushroomthejournal.com1

Figure 3: Murrill at Stauntonto the school. Most of his early schoolingwas in Blacksburg, where his familymoved to the Miller farm just south oftown. He first took piano lessons at theage of nine and his mother encouragedhim in the area of fine arts. He laterbecame an outstanding pianist, artist,writer, and was highly creative in anumber of fields. At the age of twelve,he completed high school and becamea student at the Virginia Agriculturaland Mechanical College in Blacksburg.He received his BS with highest honorsthere in 1887, at the age of sixteen. Thefollowing autumn, he took charge of asmall country school near Blacksburg.Murrill (1944) recounts his mother havinghigh ambitions for him, and when anopportunity came for him to be able togo to Randolph-Macon College in Ashland,Virginia, she urged him to take advantageof it. He received a second BSdegree at Randolph-Macon in 1889, followedsoon by a Master’s of Art in 1891.At this stage, Murrill pondered what washe going to do first. That was soon answered when he receivedand accepted an offer of a teaching position at Bowling GreenFemale Seminar where he taught for two years.In 1893, Murrill joined the Wesleyan Female Institute inStaunton, Virginia, where he spent four enjoyable years (Fig.3). There, he was involved with curriculum planning and in studentrecruitment, which carried him to Missouri and Arkansas,seeking top-flight candidates. With opportunities to see beyondthe south-central regions of Virginia, Murrill became increasinginterested in field biology. By this time, he was consistentlyreferring to himself as “the Naturalist.” He frequently visitedthe University of Virginia and attended lectures of prominentchemists, zoologists, and geologists; even being of assistancein the anatomy labs of the medical center. Trips to Washingtonand visits to the National Museum peaked his interest in naturalsciences. During his tenure at Staunton, he became convincedthat he wanted to specialize in biological sciences and do graduatework.During his second year at Wesleyan, Murrill began to thinkseriously about graduate school and had initially decided to goto John Hopkins and study Zoology, Botany, and Chemistry. Afamily friend, Dr. Gildersleeve, secured a fellowship for him,and in his final years at Wesleyan he prepared himself for studiesat John Hopkins. On a trip to Washington, however, a couple offriends, both Cornell graduates, suggested to him that job opportunitieswould be far greater in Botany and suggested that hedo his graduate studies at Cornell. Murrill made his decision toattend Cornell and stated in later years that he never regretted it. In the summer of1897 he actively collected and prepared specimens of parasitic fungi to bring andaccession in the Cornell Herbarium. He was given a fellowship in Botany whereFigure 4: Murrill starting out at the New York Botanical Gardens1Also known as Diaporthe parasitica, Cryphonectria parasitica, and probablya couple of other names, too. - LSPage Summer 2003, Mushroom the Journal http://www.mushroomthejournal.com2

(continued from p. 23)he worked with Professor Atkinson. InSeptember 1897 he married Edna LeeLuttrell and, as Weber recounts, theironly child, a son born in 1899, died ininfancy. In his autobiography, MurrillFigure 5: Murrill standing on deadchestnut treedoes not mention marriage or the son,and does not say anything about hisfamily while at Cornell. In his secondand third year at Cornell, he lived inCascadilla Hall, a male dormitory that Ilived in for one term 51 years later!Figure 6: Murrill examining a tree atKew Botanical GardensWhen Benjamin Minge Duggar retiredfrom Cornell in 1898, Murrill wasgiven the position of Assistant CryptogamicBotanist which he held until 1900,the year he received his PhD. After a tripto Paris to attend the International BotanicalCongress and a brief time of jobhunting,he contacted a Virginia friendwho offered him a job teaching biologyat DeWitt Clinton High School in NewYork. In subsequent years, he spent hissummers traveling to museums abroadand collaborating with professors atColumbia University, close to where helived. With his increased involvement inthe Torrey Botanical Club and growingpopularity as a great speaker at home andabroad, Murrill was in a perfect positionto be selected as Asssistant Curator atthe New York Botanical Garden whenFranklin Sumner Earle was appointedDirector of the Experiment Station inCuba (Fig. 4).Murrill enjoyed 20 highly productiveyears at the New York Botanical Garden.He enjoyed the hustle and bustle of thebig city with its museums, theaters,music halls, zoos, and baseball parks.Although he had established himself asan international authority of mushroomsand bracket fungi, about this time a devastatingdisease of chestnuts appearedand he immediately set out to find thecause and cure. Within a year, he discoveredthat the dieback was caused by Endothiaparasitica, 1 much to the chagrinof a group of USDA mycologists whohad been unsuccessful in determiningthe cause (Fig. 5). The cure for chestnutblight is still being investigated.Murrill traveled extensively andwas in great demand as a speaker on alarge variety of subjects. He visited allof the major museums throughout ofEurope and made a number of expeditionsto the Caribbean, Mexico, Braziland places between. Unfortunately, allwas not rosy for him in New York. Heand Nathaniel Lord Britton, Director ofthe Garden, became at odds over rulesof nomenclature and slowly but surelytheir relationship deteriorated. On hisreturn several months late from a Europeanexcursion, Murrill found himselfdemoted to a position of Supervisor ofPublic Instruction with a very low salary.Fred Seaver, one of Murrill’s co-workersat the Garden, shared that a polycystickidney problem hospitalized him in aFig. 7: Murrill building his log cabin inVirginiasmall French town where he almost diedand had no way to contact his wife orcolleagues at the Garden. Murrill’s wifetraveled with him all throughout the US,but absolutely refused to accompanyhim abroad, having a deadly fear ofwater. With his extensive travel abroad,his wife spent an inordinate amount oftime alone.Weber (1961) states, “His busy existencebecame clouded by a series ofcircumstances that culminated in the tenderingof his resignation to the Directorin-Chiefof the Garden in August, 1924,ending his public career that possessedevery indication of abundant accomplishments.Dr. Murrill changed fromone plagued with the worry and responsibilitiesof a complicated society in highplaces to one devoting all his thoughtsto his own individual self.” Accordingto Weber, Murrill was hospitalized intermittentlyfor over a year for nervousinstabilities and physical exhaustion. Hiswife left his home and shortly thereafterserved him with a divorce decree. Asfinancial problems developed, he becamea haunted man. Mentally troubled,alone, and discouraged, he left the Gardenand went to live with an aunt nearhis birthplace near Lynchburg, Virginia.The Naturalist soon associated himselfwith trees, flowers, birds, and the otherwildlife in mountains close by, and soonbecame busy building a log cabin there(Fig. 7).Page Summer 2003, Mushroom the Journal http://www.mushroomthejournal.com3

Figure 8: The “Tin Can Tourist Camp” where Murrill initially stayed in FloridaBefore his resignation from the Garden,Murrill had made collecting tripsto Florida as late as 1923. After a yearin Virginia, as his mental and physicalhealth improved, he again made his wayto Gainesville, and for the next coupleof years he made regular trips from Virginia.It was during one of these visitsthat Dr. Weber and his wife Kate discoveredthis “tall, robust, dignified, pleasantstranger providing a piano concert forthe transient tourists at their recreationhall in the local tourist court.” Weberrecalled that he immediately recognizedthe gentleman as Dr. Murrill.Murrill’s Twilight Years in FloridaWeber was unsure as to how Murrillarrived in Gainesville or how long hehad been living in the tourist court wherethey first spotted him. Dr. Weber, notingthat Murrill looked unkempt, frail, andhaggard, more or less took him underhis wing and, along with Prof. West,saw that he was properly dressed andfed. Murrill spent his final 32 years inGainesville, built a small home andrental cottages here, and went to theUniversity of Florida daily to visitGeorge Weber and Erdman West.While visiting the Florida Museumin the old capital building in Tallahasseerecently, I saw a large photo of the TinCan Tourist Camp in Gainesville takenin the early 30s (Fig.8). This discoverystirred my curiosity: could this be whereMurrill stayed? I think so. Among itemsin the Alachua County Library DistrictHeritage Collection 2002, there is afeature on the Tin Can Tourist Camp. Itstates, “Today’s travelers move on superhighwaysand stay in modern motels;they also have the choice of travelingFigure 9: Murrill's first house in Gainesvillewith campers and recreational vehiclesthat offer many of the comfortsof home. But in the 1920s after WorldWar I, when many folks began movingto Florida, moving meant bravinguncertain lodging. Tin Can tourism(using the car and a tent for lodging)was a common solution. One camp,aptly named “Tin Can Tourist Camp,”was located in Gainesville, located atthe present-day site of Shands AlachuaGeneral Hospital.”Since Murrill did not drive, it ishighly likely that he traveled withfriends from Virginia to Florida,stopping at various Tin Cup TouristCamps throughout the Southeast.Interestingly, the site of the Tin CupTourist Court was only a few blocksfrom where Weber and his wife Katelived. Weber shared with me thatthe two of them went to the touristcourt frequently to purchase jams, jellies,fruits, and vegetables that farmersfrom the countryside would bring to sellto the travelers. It was not known untilrecently how long Murrill lived in thetourist camp. Correspondence betweenMurrill and John Kunkel Small (anothercolleague from the NY Botanical Garden)reveals that Murrill wrote to Smallon March 9, 1927, commenting that hewas still at the Tourist Camp but he wasstarting to build a studio to use as astoreroom while he worked on his maindwelling (Fig. 9). We know that MurrillPage Summer 2003, Mushroom the Journal http://www.mushroomthejournal.com4

Figure 10: The second house that Murrill builtwas very interested in the plants aroundnorth central Florida and correspondedfrequently with Small, who was workingon A Manual of the Southeastern Flora.Two post cards dated 1926 written bySmall were addressed to W. A. Murrill,Tourist Court, Gainesville, Florida, oneindicating that he had visited Murrill inFlorida recently. In Murrill’s 1927 letterto Small, he states “I am at the TouristCamp in a cottage, when you came lastI was off on a watersnake hunt.” Verylikely, Murrill came to the tourist campin Gainesville in the winter of 1925.Two different stories emerge whenyou compare Murrill’s account ofthe early days in Gainesville to whatWeber recollects. Murrill states in hisautobiography that for a few years afterhe had built his cabin near Lynchburg,“he followed the birds to the south andwandered about from one lovely spot toanother until returning spring beckonedhim northward again.... The final stagecame when the study of mosquitoes andspiders required him to spend the firstsummer in Gainesville. Only then didhe come to realize the richness of theendemic biota, and especially the vastopportunity in the fleshy fungi, whichcaused him to return to this group almostexclusively in later years.” Webersays that Murrill had every intention ofreturning to Virginia in the summer aswas his practice, but he was hospitalizedin the University Infirmary with his recurringkidney problem. His stay in theinfirmary lasted for several weeks andon his release the summer rains werehere. And so were the mushrooms, inabundance! Weber recalled that this wasthe first “spark of life” he had seen inthe “old man’s eyes” during the monthsthat he had been in Gainesville. Murrillwas excited: this was the first time hehad seen the summer flushes of mushroomsin Florida. He needed collectingsupplies, a desk, and a microscope.Crowded for teaching, research, andherbarium space, they provided himwith a desk, microscope, and lamp onthe third floor stairway landing in RolfsHall, close to the Herbarium and to theoffices of Weber and West.With a new “lease on life,” Murrillasked Weber if he would determine if hehad money at the New York BotanicalGarden from the sale of his book Edibleand Poisonous Mushrooms and theaccompanying color chart, publishedby him in 1916. He quickly receiveda check for $600.00 and a stack ofunsold books and charts. With thismoney he bought a small lot, sometools and building supplies, and builta small woodframe house at 203 NW9 th Terrace between the University anddowntown Gainesville (Fig. 9). Murrill(1945) states that “Having built one littlehouse in Gainesville, the Naturalist triedanother and another just for the fun ofit.” Weber said that he built them forrental property (Fig. 10).Although Murrill lived alone, hewas seldom alone. He spent most ofhis time on and around the campus of theUniversity of Florida, where there weremany tree species that supported all sortsof ectomycorrhizal mushrooms: severalflushes in the summer and other flushesduring mild winter months. He becamea fixture on campus with his basket andwalking cane, poking around shrubs andhedges for mushrooms. Students andfaculty were amazed with him and enjoyedjoining him on excursions aroundand near the campus. He was a greatstory-teller and he fascinated everyonewith his tales of travels to exotic places,entertaining royal families in variousEuropean countries, and his familiaritywith every plant or mushroom speciesaround. The nurses in the infirmaryFigure 11: Murrill (in front) with teamof Florida botanists and fallen cypresstreeand secretaries around campus all “fellin love” with him and delighted withthe opportunities to chat with him andlearn of his escapades. Many of the PlantPathology and Forestry Faculty wouldtake him to the fields and forests aroundnorth central Florida. On rare occasionshe would be able to visit state parks inthe lower peninsula of Florida. In August1938, he, Weber, West, R. K. Voorhees,and A. S. Rhoads discovered cypresstrees infected with Fomes geotropus,the fungus that was later determinedby Murrill to be the cause of “peckycypress” (Fig. 11).During the late 30s and early 40s,Murrill shaved away his beard andPage Summer 2003, Mushroom the Journal http://www.mushroomthejournal.com5

mustache for a few years (Fig. 12). Helooked forlorn and unusual becausehe had been adorned with a mustachefrom graduate school days in Virginiaand with a distinct beard going back tohis tenure at Cornell. This was the beginningof a period when he started toactively describe and publish again onthe new fungi he was finding. Murrill(1945) states “the gilded net had disappeared;routine work was no more, likea boat above the rapids on a quiet lakehe cruised on gentle waters withoutcompulsion or fear, devoting his attentionfreely and forcefully to things heloved.”Murrill had strange work habits, risingafter midmorning, getting his basketand collecting gear together, and strikingout around campus or favorite woodlotsin the suburbs. Some of his favoritesites included the Devil’s Millhopper,SanFelasco Hammock, Sugarfoot Hammock,Planera Hammock, Kelly’s Hammock,Muck Pond, Paynes Praire, anda number of others close by and withinwalking distance. He would return tohis desk on the Rolfs Hall landing andproceed to sort, identify, and preparehis collections for drying. Most of thespecimen labels were hand-written andcarefully sorted. During the mushroomseason, he seldom returned to his homewhich was 12 or 15 blocks from campus.Instead, he would work late at his deskin Rolfs Hall and in the early morninghours cross the street and make his wayinto the lobby of the Student UnionBuilding. There he would find very soft couches onwhich to sleep for the remainder of the night. Asstudents came to the Union cafeteria for breakfast,they would wake Murrill and invite him to breakfast,enjoying every moment of their meal with the oldgentleman. Weber recounted that seldom did Murrillever have to buy or make his breakfast.During the last fifteen years of his life, he hadno income beyond the revenue he received from hisrental houses and the sale of popular and scientificarticles that he published himself. Because of hissignificant contribution of specimens to the ExperimentStation Herbarium, Professor West persuadedthe administration to give him a $50.00 per monthhonorarium. In some of his last few years, he receivedFigure 12: Murrill in the late 1930ssome financial and medical support fromthe Florida Social Welfare Board. He becamevery actively involved with localgarden clubs, and organized a natureclub that made weekly forays to severalexcellent collecting areas (Weber1961). His work with the Girl Scouts, inwhich he was active while at the BotanicalGarden, was revived and continuedactive for many years in Gainesville.He wrote a number of popular bookletswhich were dedicated to the Boy Scoutsand Girl Scouts. In total, he published118 popular and scientific papers duringhis final years in Florida. Throughouthis career he collected more than 75,000Figure 13: Murrill at 86 years of agespecimens and described approximately1700 new species. More than 8,000specimens were collected in Florida, inof which more than 700 were describedas new species.Murrill published 20 books, 500 scientificarticles, and 800 popular articles.Many prominent agaricologists visitedand consulted with Murrill while hewas at the University of Florida. Theseincluded Rolf Singer, Lexemuel RayHesler, Gertrude Burlingham, JosiahLowe, Alexander H. Smith, and others.The late Dr. Dan Roberts, professor ofPlant Pathology, told of times whenhe was a student in the 50s, that whenapproaching Rolfs Hall to do work inthe evenings, he would hear the heateddebates between Singer and Murrillfrom blocks away. Dan recounts thatat times their arguments became sointense that he felt they would come toblows. In 1954, the Mycological Societyof America held its annual meeting atthe University of Florida. Murrill waspresent in many of these sessions andespecially delighted in looking over andhelping with identification of specimenscollected during the MSA forays.Perhaps the last photograph wasmade of Dr. Murrill during the celebrationof his 86 th birthday (Fig. 13)when the Department of Botany honoredhim with a birthday party attendedby the President of the University, theProvost of Agriculture, the Director ofPage Summer 2003, Mushroom the Journal http://www.mushroomthejournal.com6

the Experiment Station, and many of hisfriends.Murrill continued to describenew species up until his last publicationin 1955, a new species of Amanitafrom Florida (Mycologia 47:427).Little did he imagine that a small whitemushroom found in deep mulch aroundGainesville, which he named Amanitaneglecta, would be the last mushroomhe would describe. As Weber (1961)recounts, “During the last years his applicationsbecame less regular, althoughhis enthusiasm never diminished evenup to the time of his last illness. Eventhen he reported of his own volition tothe University Infirmary where he collapsedwhile the doctor was examininghim”. After a month’s hospitalization,he died in Alachua General Hospital inGainesville on Dec. 25, 1957. He wasburied in the Evergreen Cemetary at 401SE 21 st Avenue (Fig. 14). His gravesiteis near pines and sprawling live oaktrees that will provide an abundanceof mushrooms and bracket fungi withwhich, perhaps, his spirit can minglethroughout eternity.As an international traveler, Murrillhad made personal friends willthe most prominent mycologists in themajor museums and other institutionsin Europe, South and Central America,and throughout the United States. Whilehe had cultivated friendships with manypeople in Gainesville, without doubt hisclosest friend was Professor George F.Weber. George first spotted him at thetourist court, took him “under his wing,”helped him get established at the University,and was able to secure funds forhis survival. After Murrill’s death, Weberwould go to the cemetery every yeararound Christmas, the anniversary of hisdeath, to see that his gravesite was cleanFigure 15: George Weber tending Murrill's graveand to provide flowers (Fig. 15).Dr. William Alfonso Murrill choseto spend his retiring days in Gainesvilleand became an ever-present stimulus tothe pursuit of the knowledge of thegeographical distribution and hostrange of its the fungi, particularly theBasidiomycetes. He not only was amaster mycologist but an ever patientteacher to whom many owed much inthe way of confidence in him and his accomplishments.As Weber (1961) states,“so ended the life so richly endowedwith information, humility, sincerity,joyfulness, and kindness.”AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank Ms. Sally Bennyfor scanning the images and insertingthem into the manuscript, and Dr. GeraldBenny and Ms. Jennifer Gillett for helpingwith the illustrations and reviewingthe manuscript.Literature citedMurrill, W. A. 1918. Billy the BoyNaturalist. Self-published, New YorkEra Printing Co., Lancaster, PA. 252pp.Murrill, W. A. 1945. Autobiography.Self-published, Gainesville, FL. 165pp.Murrill, W. A. 1955. “A new speciesof Amanita from Florida”, Mycologia47:427.Weber, George F. 1961. “WilliamAlphonso Murrill”, Mycologia 53:543-557.Figure 14: Murrill's gravestonePage Summer 2003, Mushroom the Journal http://www.mushroomthejournal.com7