BOONE—The late I.W. “Bill” Carpenter Jr. was known for his unique method of collecting plants for the herbarium at Appalachian State University.

When he took students on field trips, Carpenter often pulled his vehicle off the side of the road without warning whenever he spotted an interesting plant—no matter how fast he was traveling at the time.

“He could go down the road at 60 or 70 miles an hour, screech on the brakes, and pull into the ditch after noticing some plant that no one had ever seen before,” said Richard Henson, a professor emeritus from the Department of Biology.

The herbarium at Appalachian State University has been named in memory of the late Bill Carpenter, who established the collection in 1958. Visiting the collection are daughter Kim, left, herbarium curator Dr. Zack Murrell, Mrs. J. Lou (Bill) Carpenter and daughter Carol. (photo by Jane Nicholson)

As a result of his “roadside botany” techniques and with specimens collected by others, Appalachian has a collection of more than 25,000 preserved plant specimens from across the Southeast.

The Dr. I.W. “Bill” Carpenter Jr. Herbarium has been dedicated in memory of Carpenter, who died in December 2007. The herbarium is located in the Department of Biology in Rankin Science Building.

“This facility will help future generations of biology scholars and students and those with an interest in flora,” said Robert Lyman, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Carpenter taught biology at Appalachian from 1953-1986. He was chairman of the Department of Biology from 1973-1980.

“Oftentimes at the end of a career, you wonder what legacy you will leave behind,” said herbarium curator and associate professor Zach Murrell. “It’s important for Dr. Carpenter’s family to understand the tremendous legacy that he did leave here.”

Through a $498,000 National Science Foundation grant, Murrell is creating an online network that will link the 150 herbaria located across the Southeast, and make the collections accessible and searchable on via the Internet.

“This project, which will make about 12 million specimens available (for study) from across the Southeast, would not have happened without Dr. Carpenter’s work to establish Appalachian’s herbarium,” he said.

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