AASP Primary Records Program

Roger P. Wodehouse

Roger P. Wodehouse was born in Toronto in 1889. After obtaining his bachelor's degree at the University of Toronto in 1913, he attended Harvard and earned the A.M. in 1916. After becoming naturalized, he worked as a research chemist and hay fever specia1ist in several pharmaceutical houses in Boston and New York. He completed the Ph.D. in 1928 at Columbia University, then joined the Leder1e Laboratories as Director of Research. His book "Pollen Grains" first appeared in 1935 and was reprinted in 1959. In this book pollen grains are beautifully illustrated by detailed line drawings. One of these is the chenopod, Salsola, which is currently featured in the logo developed for the IXth IPC that will be held in Houston, Texas next June (Nichols, 1994).

REFERENCES (O.K. Davis)

Canright, J.C. 1995.
A Brief History of Some Major Contributors to the Development of Palynology in the United States. Palynos 18(2): 2-7.

Nichols, D.J. 1994.

Wodehouse, R.P. 1926.
Morphology of pollen grains in relation to plant classification. N.Y. Bot. Gard. Jour. 27:145-154.

____________ 1928.
The phylogenetic value of pollen-grain characters. Annals of Botany, 62: 891-934.
1929: Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard, same title (?)

____________ 1929.
The origin of symmetry patterns of pollen grains. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 56: 339-350

____________ 1931.
Pollen grains in the identification and classification of plants. VI. Polygonaceae. I, II, V. American Journal Botany 58: 749-764.

____________ 1932.
Tertiary pollen I. Pollen of the living representatives of the Green River flora. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, 59: 313-340.

____________ 1933.
Tertiary pollen II: The Oil Shales of the Eocene Green River Formation: Torrey Botanical Club Bulletin 60: 470-524.

____________ 1934.
Shapes of pollen grains. Practical Microscopy 1: 23-35.

____________ 1935.
Pollen grains. McGraw Hill Book Company, New York, 574 pp. & 14 plates.

____________ 1935.
The Pleistocene Pollen. Introductory note by Hellmut de Terra. (Kashmir) Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences Memoirs 9: 1-18.

____________ 1936.
Evolution of pollen grains. Botanical Review 2: 67-84.

____________ 1945.
Hayfever plants, their appearance, distribution, time of flowering, and their role in hayfever, with special reference to North America. The Chronica Botanica Co., Waltham, Mass 245 p.

Smith, A.C. and Wodehouse, R.P. 1938.
The American species of Myristicaceae. Brittonia 2(5): 393-510.

* image is from
Dalmáu, J.M.P. 1961. Polen estructura y características de los granós de polen. Talleres gráficos D.C.P. - Gerona.

Burlington, Vermont Free Press
August 1, 1978. p. B2.

DR. ROGER P. WODEHOUSE
SOUTH HERO, VERMONT

Dr. Roger P. Wodehouse died at his home in South Hero on July 30, 1978. He was an internationally famous botanist and pioneer in the fields of allergy research, immunology, and aerobiology. Born in Toronto, Canada, on Dec. 9, 1889, he was educated at Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto. He served as a cadet pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War I. Coming to this country, he received his M.A. degree at Harvard University in 1916 and Ph.D. at Columbia University In 1927. He was a research chemist at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, and in 1919 became director of the Hay Fever Laboratory at Arlington Chemical Company, Yonkers, N.Y. In 1945 Dr. Wodehouse became research associate in allergy at Lederle Laboratories, Pearl River, N.Y., retiring in 1958.

Author of many scientific and non-technica1 publications, Dr, Wodehouse is best known for his books, "Pollen Grains" and "Hay Fever Plants." For many years he lectured and wrote on the causes of hay fever, a man-made disease.

He was a Fellow of the A.A.A.S., member of the Torrev Botantcal Club (editor 1938-40), Botanical Society of America, International Corr. Club of Allergy, National Research Council-Committee on Aerobiology, honorable member with the gold medal of the Institute de Coimbre, Associate Fellow of the American College of Allergists and member of the Scientific Committee of Pollen and Spores, Museum National D'Histoire, Paris.

He was a member of the Yonkers Rotary Club and president 1940-41.

In 1960 Dr. Wodehouse moved to Burlington, and for the last 10 years had spent the winters in Fort Myers, Fla., where he was actively engaged in writing a flora of tropical plants.

He is survived by his wife, Ellys B. Wodehouse; four children, Armine P. of Orangeville, Pa., Mrs. Anne Oram of London, England, Edmund B. of San Francisco, Calif., and Roger Alfred of South Hero; four grandsons; two sisters, Mrs. E. Davidson of Toronto, Canada, and Miss Griselda Wodehouse of New York City.

Memorial services will be held at a later date.