Hybridizer Edward Oliver Essig --(1884-1964)

Berkeley, California, USA

EDWARD OLIVER ESSIG

Edward Oliver Essig, hybridizer of the Dykes Medal winner SIERRA BLUE, died November 23 at the age of 80. Prof. Essig, for many years chairman of the University of California entomology department at the Berkeley campus, was widely known as an author and authority on insects. Among his many honors was the Award of Merit from the Republic of France. His collection of aphids was considered to be the finest in the world. A former RVP for Region 14, he first became interested in irises in the early twenties and began a long and distinguished hybridizing program. In 1935 the American Dykes Medal was awarded to his SIERRA BLUE. Other varieties which Prof. Essig produced include three A.M. winners-SHINING WATERS, MT. WASHINGTON, and EASTER MORN, and seven H.M. winners-UNCLE REMUS, PALE MOONLIGHT, UKIAH, TENAYA, SONG OF GOLD, SOUSUN, and EASTER GOLD. He received the AIS Hybridizer's Medal in 1944. The University of California has established a memorial fund in his honor. The fund will finance the purchase of rare entomological books, which will be added to Prof. Essig's personal collection of books, journal reprints, and aphid specimens that he presented to the university in 1962. [AIS Bulletin #176, January 1965, p.98]

Received American Iris Society Hybridizer Award, in 1944.

Registrations/Introductions:

Intermediate Bearded: 'Blue and Gold', 'Stipples', 'Sundew'.

Louisiana: 'Arkansas', 'Tulsa.

Tall Bearded: 'Abalone Shell', 'Ahwahnee', 'Aleut', 'American', 'Apache Plume', 'Arcata', 'Blue Candlelight', 'Blue Gown', 'Blue Sunset', 'Brown Turban', 'California Blue', 'California Madonna', 'Carved Ivory', 'China Lantern', 'Coloma', 'Desert Plume', 'Easter Candle', 'Easter Gold', 'Easter Morn', 'Easter Orchid', 'Evening Snow', 'Father Serra', 'Firefall', 'Flame Bearer', 'Gold Rush' 'Golden Madonna', 'Golden Morn',, 'Happy Isles', 'Hearth Fire', 'Hollywood', 'Inca Gold', 'Isabel Todd', 'Ivory Coast', 'Jade Madonna', 'Jewel Box', 'Little Smoky', 'Marshall's Gold', 'Mission Altarcloth', 'Mission Dolores', 'Mission Madonna', 'Modoc', 'Mother Lode', 'Mount Washington'*, 'Mourning Cloak', 'New Albion', 'Pacific', 'Painted Minx., 'Pale Moonlight', 'Pastel Shades', 'Pink Lass', 'Polar Light', 'Redglow', 'Rose Mitchell', 'Rosultra', 'Shining Waters', 'Sierra Blue', 'Sierra Glow, 'Sierra Primrose', 'Silent Waterfall', 'Sitka', 'Sombrero', 'Song of Gold', 'Sousun', 'South Seas', 'Sunny Morn', 'Sunred Beard', 'Sunwine', 'Tenaya', 'The Franciscan', 'Ukiah', 'Uncle Remus', 'Western Skies', 'Westlander', 'Wildflower', 'Yola Boll', 'Yosemite Falls'.

-- BobPries - 2011-08-02