VAN RENSSELAER, Maunsell
From Islapedia
VAN RENSSELAER, Maunsell (1897-1972), University of California graduate and director of the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden from 1936 to 1950.
In 1936, while on a botanizing expedition to Santa Cruz Island, Van Rensselaer ran into members of the Caire family above Fry’s Harbor. According to Helen Caire [1993:21-22]:
- "Years ago Van Rensselaer asked my father [Frederic Caire] if it would be possible for seeds of the palo fierro [ironwood] to be gathered at the island. Of course, my father acquiesced. My sisters and two cousins who were at the island that fall volunteered to be the Palo Fiero Mounties. They set out several times with huge white bags sent over by Van Rensselaer, to ride down the southern slopes of the Colorados where in sheltered pockets of ridges clumps of the trees flourished. They gathered whole flower clusters now gone to minute seed, sometimes standing on their saddles to reach higher branches. The four girls returned to the Main Ranch with the enormous bags tied to the saddle horns, bulging with future potential island ironwood trees for the Santa Barbara mainland. It was designated the Santa Barbara County tree.”
In December 1937 he and D. B. Rogers accompanied Dr. Paul R. Hanna of Stanford University on a field trip to Santa Cruz Island.
The Santa Barbara Historical Society has two photographs on file by Van Rensselaer taken on Santa Cruz Island:
- Shot of Pelican Bay and Capt. Eaton's old resort [220.4]
- Santa Cruz Island coastline — ironwood trees in foreground [220.4]
