Richard LeBlond was born in
Portland, Oregon on July 19, 1941. After serving in the U.S. Navy
as a journalist, he graduated from the University of Washington
in Seattle in 1966 with a B.A. in English Literature. He joined
the National Park Service in 1967 as an administrative assistant
at Glacier National Park, transferring to Cape Cod National Seashore
in 1968. He left the park service in 1972 and lived in Europe
until 1974, mostly in Spain and Greece. After Europe, he returned
to Cape Cod and became administrator of the Outer Cape Environmental
Association and founded the Provincetown Conservation Trust. This
work led to an increasing interest in botany and the odd yet fortuitous
belief that no one would take him seriously if he did not learn
the grasses, sedges, and rushes. And that has made all the difference.
Since 1990 he has worked as an inventory biologist in southeastern
North Carolina, becoming a staff member of the N.C. Natural Heritage
Program in 1994.
LeBlond retired from the North
Carolina Natural Heritage Program in April, 2007, but continues
to botanize the Southeastern United States with the motto "if
it ain't fun, it ain't gettin' done."
Selected publications:
LeBlond, Richard J., Edward E. Schilling,
Richard D. Porcher, Bruce A. Sorrie, John F. Townsend, Patrick
D. McMillan and Alan S. Weakley. 2007. Eupatorium paludicola,
sp. nov. (Asteraceae): A new species form the coastal plain of
North and South Carolina. Rhodora
109 (938): 137-177.
Schilling, Edward E. , Richard J. LeBlond,
Bruce A. Sorrie and Alan S. Weakley. 2007. Relationships of the
New England Boneset, Eupatorium novae-angliae (Asteraceae).
Rhodora 109 (938): 145-160.
Shelingoski, S., R.J. LeBlond, J.M. Stucky,
and T.R. Wentworth. 2005. Flora and soils of Wells Savannah, an
example of a unique savannah type. Castanea 70: 101-114.
LeBlond, R. J. and A. S. Weakley.
2002. Schizaea pusilla in North Carolina. Rhodora
104: 86-91.
LeBlond, R. J. 2001. Endemic plants of the Cape Fear Arch region.
Castanea 66: 83-97.
LeBlond, R. J. and B. A. Sorrie. 2001. Additions to and noteworthy
records for the flora of the Coastal Plain of North Carolina.
Castanea 66: 288-302.
LeBlond, R. J. 2001. Taxonomy of the Dichotoma group of Dichanthelium
(Poaceae). Sida 19: 821-837.
LeBlond, R. J. 2000. Solidago villosicarpa (Asteracaea:
Astereae), a rare new southeastern Coastal Plain endemic. Sida
19: 291-300.
LeBlond, R. J. 1997. Distribution of Rhynchospora harperi.
Castanea 62: 278-280.
Sorrie, B.A., and R.J. LeBlond. 1997. Vascular
plants new to the Bahamas and Andros Island. Bahamas Journal of
Science 4 (2): 14-18.
LeBlond, R. J., A. S. Weakley, A. A. Reznicek, and W. J. Crins.
1994. Carex lutea (Cyperaceae), a rare new coastal
plain endemic from North Carolina. Sida 16: 153-161.
LeBlond, R.J. 1982. The Provincelands golden
clubs. Rhodora 84: 297-300.
