Oren Lloyd Justice

Posted on by Carol Ann McCormick

(11 November 1907 – 13 February 1993)2,3

In the autumn of 2023 the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Herbarium (NCU) received as a gift from Cornell University (BH) two specimens collected by Oren Lloyd Justice in Alabama in 1940 and 1941.  NCU already had at least one other specimen collected by Justice:  Podostemum ceratophyllum collected in 1938 from the Saint Regis River in New York state (NCU accession 54010).  He usually signed his labels as “O. L. Justice”.

Other herbaria curating specimens collected by Oren Lloyd Justice include Brown University (BRU), Butler University (BUT), Field Museum (F), Harvard Herbaria (GH), Marshall University (MUHW), Mississippi State University (MISSA), New York Botanical Garden (NY), North Carolina State University (NCSC), ILL (University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana), University of Kansas (KANU), University of Michigan (MICH), University of South Florida (USF), University of Vermont (VT), and University of Wisconsin, Madison (WIS).1

Oren Lloyd Justice was born in Pike County, Kentucky on 11 November 1907, the son of William Basil Justice (1880-1928) and  Amanda “Maude”  Maynard Justice (1883-1969).  He was one of thirteen siblings.4

The 1930 U.S. Census lists Justice as a public school teacher, living in Trimble Township, Athens County, Ohio. (1930 Census).5  He earned a B.A. from Ohio University in 1932.7  In March, 1935 Oren Lloyd Justice married Helvia Ellen Kytta (1915-2010) in Athens County, Ohio.6   Together they had three children: Roger L. Justice (1942-1977), Donald Gene Justice 1943-1943), and Keith Oren Justice (1946-1993).4   Justice continued at Ohio University  and earned a Master of Arts degree in Civic Biology & Botany in 1937.  The title of his M.A. thesis was “The effects of hydrogen-ion concentration on plant distribution and plant succession in the Sunday Creek (Ohio) drainage.”7

Justice earned his doctoral degree at Cornell University in 1940.  The title of his dissertation was, “A study of dormancy in seeds of certain species of Polygonum“, and his career focused on seed biology.  A 1945 publication listed his professional affiliation as the United States Department of Agriculture, Production & Marketing Administration, Grain Branch, Washington, D.C.

Justice died on 13 February 1993 in Sarasota, Florida and is buried in Wilgus, Lawrence County, Ohio.8

PUBLICATIONS:

Justice, Oren Lloyd.  1937. The Effects of Hydrogen-ion Concentration on Plant Distribution and Plant Succession in the Sunday Creek (Ohio) Drainage Basin. M.A. Thesis, Civic Biology & Botany, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.

Justice, Oren Lloyd. 1940. “A study of dormancy in seeds of certain species of Polygonum“.  Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

Justice, Oren L. 1944. Viability and dormancy in seeds of Polygonum amphibium L., P. coccineum Muhl. and P. hydropiperoides Michx.  American Journal of Botany 31(7):369-377

Justice, O. L. 1945. A review of literature on the use of the fluorescence test for the classification of Lolium species and hybrids.  Proceedings of the Association of Official Seed Analysts 36: 86-93.

Andersen, Alice M. and O. L. Justice. 1948.  Germination of seed of five kinds of Cucurbits at two temperatures.  Proceedings of the Association of Official Seed Analysts 38 (1948): 45-47.

Woodstock, L. W. and O. L. Justice. 1967.  Radiation-induced changes in respiration of corn, wheat, sorghum and radish seeds during initial stages of germination in relation to subsequent seedling growth.  Radiation Botany 7(2): 129-136.

Kulik, Martin M. and Orel L. Justice. 1967. Some influences of storage fungi, temperatures and relative humidity on the germinability of grass seed. Journal of Stored Products Research 3(4): 335-343.

Justice, Oren L. 1972. Essentials of Seed Testing, Chapter 5 in Seed Biology: Insects, and Seed Collection, Storage, Testing, and Certification, Volume III. T. T. Kozlowski, editor. New York: Academic Press, Inc.

Justice, Oren L. and Louis N. Bass. 1978.  Principles and practices of seed storage.  Agriculture Handbook No. 506, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.  Washington, D.C.

 

SOURCES:

  1. SERNEC Data Portal. 2023. http//:sernecportal.org/index.php. Accessed on November 24.
  2. Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. [birth date]
  3. “United States Social Security Death Index,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J1SF-XMS : 8 January 2021), Oren L Justice, 13 Feb 1993; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing). [death date]
  4. Justice Family Tree. Ancestry.com accessed on 1 December 2023.
  5. “United States Census, 1930”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X4S9-3P2 : Thu Oct 05 15:05:15 UTC 2023), Entry for Carl Cartwright and Bessie Cartwright, 1930.
  6. “Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2016”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2Q4T-XC2 : Wed Oct 18 15:33:48 UTC 2023), Entry for Oren Justice and Helvia Kytta, 09 Mar 1935.
  7.  personal communication, Andrew Stuart, Ohio University Libraries to McCormick, email, 2023-12-01.
  8. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/77738571/oren-lloyd-justice: accessed 01 December 2023), memorial page for Oren Lloyd Justice (11 Nov 1907–13 Feb 1993), Find a Grave Memorial ID 77738571, citing Fairview Baptist Cemetery, Wilgus, Lawrence County, Ohio, USA; Maintained by PaperTrailer (contributor 47092270).