Charles Theodore Mohr
An Alabama Botanist
Today is the anniversary of the death of botanist Charles Theodore Mohr who died on this day in 1901.
Charles Mohr was one of Alabama's first botanists. He was born in Germany and educated in Stuttgart - he was a trained pharmacist. Mohr traveled the world before settling in Alabama. He collected in Surinam, emigrated to the United States in 1848, took part in the California gold rush, lived Mexico, Indiana briefly, and Kentucky.
Mohr spent decades gathering the information and plant specimens for his work.
In 1857 he started Chas. Mohr & Son Pharmacists and Chemists in Mobile, Alabama.
His herbarium specimens were donated to the University of Alabama Herbarium (15,000 specimens) and the United States National Herbarium (18,000 specimens).
When Mohr's book on the plants of Alabama was published, he was seventy-seven years old.
The following plants are named for Charles Theodore Mohr:
Andropogon mohrii (Hack.) Hack ex Vasey Mohr's bluestem Grass family
Aristida mohrii Nash Mohr's threeawn Grass family
Eupatorium mohrii Greene Mohr's thoroughwort Aster family
Marshallia mohrii Beadle & F.E. Boynt. Mohr's Barbara's buttons Aster family
Rudbeckia mohrii Gray Mohr's coneflower Aster family
Silphium mohrii Small Mohr's rosinweed Aster family
Tephrosia mohrii (Rydb.) Godfrey pineland hoarypea Pea family
Quercus mohriana Buckl. Ex Rydb. Mohr oak Oak family