Crossosoma 34(2), Fall-Winter 2008 
44 
DEDICATION 
Oscar F. Clarke 
Oscar F. Clarke is a lifelong naturalist, the first curator of the UC Riverside 
Herbarium, and an important mentor to numerous botanists and naturalists in 
southern California. He is the principal author of Flora of the Santa Ana River 
and Environs (Heyday Press 2007), a user-friendly and botanically sound work 
that sets a standard for botanical field guides. 
Oscar was born in Colton, California in 1919. As a pre-teen, he was interested in 
insects, perhaps due to myopia which limited his vision at distance yet allowed 
him to focus closely on fine detail. The Clarke family struggled through the Great 
Depression, during Oscar’s teenage years. Their troubles were compounded by 
the death of his father when Oscar was only 13. Beyond high school, Oscar had 
Oscar Clarke at Edmund Yeager’s “Palaver,” c. 1960s 
limited formal education. As a young man, he attended San Bernardino Valley 
Junior College but he learned biology mainly from various mentors and from 
self-guided study at the Colton Public Library. His early focus on small insects 
and their smaller structures has continued throughout his life and links to his work 
with plants. He has always emphasized the importance of small details of plant 
structure in recognizing relationships among species and populations. 
