Edgar W. Denison (August 31, 1904 – August 14, 1993) was a conservationist, amateur botanist and naturalist who was an early proponent of the value of the use of native plants in cultivated landscapes and in preserving and restoring biodiversity in natural and disturbed habitats. He provided text as well as many photographs and illustrations for the handbook, Missouri Wildflowers, published by Missouri Department of Conservation in 1972, and now in its 6th edition. Biography Edgar W. Denison was born in Stuttgart, Germany on August 31, 1904. His interest in nature was formed as a boy, when he would make frequent trips with his father to Switzerland, and became “fascinated with the roses and edelweiss he saw while hiking.” “I am a mountain goat by nature,” he once told an interviewer. He attended preparatory school in Germany; then, because of the economic depression at the time, immigrated to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1927, settling in Kirkwood, Missouri, in 1932, where he lived the rest of his life. He was married in 1931 to Ruth Israel. Informal Education Denison's personal interests were diverse. He appreciated the arts in many forms, from music to visual arts, including painting and photography. He played the piano—with a particular fondness for the music of Scott Joplin—and was a self-taught artist and nature photographer. Just as widespread was his enthusiasm for natural history in many forms, especially botany, zoology and geology. As a youth, Denison learned the names of plants from his father's library of botanical books. In St. Louis, he collected books and studied native plants of Missouri. As a transplanted European, he was astounded by the vastness and beauty of open landscapes surrounding the city when he arrived in St. Louis. “I was tremendously impressed by the flowers, by the beautiful country, and by the limitless expanse of our country.” He took frequent long walks through the undeveloped land that was then abundant near his Kirkwood home. And his job with Union Electric gave him frequent opportunities to exploit those interests further afield. Required to make frequent visits to rural Missouri during the construction of the Taum Sauk Hydroelectric Power Station, Denison collected rocks and minerals, and photographed the wildflowers he saw. He convinced Union Electric to include a nature museum (The Taum Sauk Nature Museum) as part of the new facility, and stocked the museum with many pieces and photographs from his own