Friends, colleagues and students came from far and wide for the occasion at Alfred B. Maclay State Gardens in Tallahassee on June 28, 2003, to honor him. 

He is not only regarded as one of the top botanists in the South, but beloved by his students and colleagues and by all who find his helpfulness to be boundless.

He has studied, identified and named many new  plants, and his work and publications are highly  respected. His enthusiasm for photography of  wildflowers inspired us more than 10 years ago to keep taking pictures. 

 It was altogether fitting that special ceremonies were held Feb. 28, 2003, to honor one of Florida's eminent field botanists and authentic heroes, Angus Gholson of Chattahoochee. 

     You can watch this on video.

    Click here for a Quicktime version of the ceremonies. The downloading of this video may take a few extra minutes if you are using a modem.  Quicktime, if you don't have it, is available as a free download. is a faster download but quirky. Just click on either word to get to a download page. 

       Botanists from the world over, and most botanists worth their salt in the Southeast have visited Chattahoochee and Angus's herbarium, and benefited from his decades of experience in the woods. An article in the St. Petersburg Times describes Angus Gholson "the weed man" although the article mistakenly says the late Dr. Robert Godfrey (tribute on next page) did his work at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He was, in fact, associated with Florida State University in Tallahassee. 

    We have also placed some more pictures of Angus at http://www.flwildflowers.com/Angus. 

     What looked like 300 people descended upon the Chattahoochee Nature Park, renamed officially for Angus Gholson,  to honor him, his wife and family, and to shower him with love and affection. People came all the way from South Carolina and Mississippi. 

      Gholson is also a veteran of WWII, having flown over Europe in bombing missions. One of the members of his flight group was the late actor Jimmy Stewart.

     The park was recently expanded from about 20 to more than 100 acres, all the way down to the river, with help of grants written with the help of the Florida Natural Areas Inventory and other agencies. Speeches by the city manager and mayor of Chattahoochee and by author Gil Nelson revealed more about "our Angus"  that he would have liked, but Angus said he was delighted with the attention. One of his priorities he bestowed upon everyone, including the city,  is to keep the park free of trash and non-natural clutter. 

     A luncheon of pork loin and Brunswick stew followed the ceremonies, and then Angus led a  group on one of his inimitable forays into the trails in the park. Trillium underwoodii were out in force, and the trout lilies were leafed out. Among the many things he pointed out, Angus showed everyone the leaf of the Tipularia discolor, a terrestrial orchid that vegetates the winter and gathers enough energy in its leaf to burst forth in the summer. You can tell the leaf by its purple underside. 

        Let us know if you are interested in the full hour VHS tape. We're not professional movie-makers, but the sound is great and we will ship out the movie for $20 and put any excess into a worthy environmental cause.

This "art deco" moth explores a common but lovely flower often found along the sidewalk. The petals of the pink Heliotropium (sp) uncoil as sun rises and the flower blooms. This plant and the orange and black Rattlebox Moth were discovered at the entrance of the St. Marks bicycle trail in Tallahassee. Click on the flower for GIF (106k) and here for JPEG.

Monotropa uniflora or Indian Pipe