CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE -- Otto and Isa Degener records

Otto Degener, a systematic botanist and conservationist, is recognized as the authority on the flora of the Hawaiian Islands and was one of the first to awaken the public to the need to conserve the native habitats which were being lost to alien species and rampant development.

Born in Orange, New Jersey in 1899, Dr. Degener received his M.S. from the University of Hawaii in 1923 and his PhD from Columbia University, where he studied under N. L. Britton, P. A. Rydberg and R.A. Harper. Moving to Hawaii in 1922, he taught botany at the University of Hawaii from 1925 to 1927 and in 1929 was appointed the first naturalist for Hawaii National Park. He was appointed Collaborator in Hawaiian Botany by the NYBG in 1935 and was associated with the NYBG until his death in 1988.

He published the first fascicle of his great work the Flora Hawaiiensis in 1932. This was the first such flora published since that of William Hillebrand of 1888. The Hillebrand specimens were deposited in Berlin and subsequently most were lost during WW2. During his lifetime, Dr. Degener managed to collect over 36,000 different species and preserve some 900 threatened and endangered plants. Without question, his herbarium was the largest and finest collection of Hawaiian Island specimens in existence. The cream of his specimens are now in the herbarium of the NYBG. While collecting in Fiji in 1942, he discovered an unknown tree which was named after him, Degeneria vitiensis. This very important tree is part of the newly established family of angiosperms called Degeneriaceae and is the missing link between the angiosperms and the gymnosperms.

On a trip to Berlin in 1952 seeking to consult a grass specialist, Dr. Degener met and married that specialist. Dr. Isa Degener, a taxonomic botanist who studied at the University of Berlin and worked as an assistant to Drs. Hermann Otto Sleumer and Erich Werdermann, was to become her husband's lifelong collaborator. Mrs. Isa Degener was appointed Honorary Collaborator of Hawaiian Botany in 1975. Collectively they would author ten books and over 400 journal articles.

Dr. Degener received several distinguished honors during his lifetime including the NYBG Distinguished Service Award. In 1962 he was a recipient of the Linnaeus Medal from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and in 1979 he was awarded the Willdenow Medal from the Berlin Botanic Garden. Also in 1979, The Senate of the State of Hawaii issued a resolution of commendation citing the outstanding conservation efforts of the Degeners.