Larry’s Impact on Me

By Jean Woods

I first met Dr. Mellichamp (as I knew him then) when I signed up for Dendrology at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte (UNCC). Plants were becoming my obsession – their proper names, locations, habits, and their beauty. In the mid 1990s there was no place that I could find to learn about the plants I saw in the woods, along the road, and in ditches. In a desperate effort to assuage my growing passion, I decided to take courses at UNCC. When I called for more information, I was eventually connected to Larry, who told me to take Dendrology, which I had never heard of.

Dendrology led me to other courses taught by Larry – field botany, plant systematics – I loved them all. Larry fed my growing enthusiasm by introducing me to the Charlotte botanical community.

Larry Encouraged Me

While returning from a field trip for one of the courses I was taking, I was complaining that there was no place for ordinary people not wanting college level courses, to learn about our native plants. Larry told me I should do something about that. So I did! It took a long time but I think I have done as he suggested, all because of Larry’s advice to connect the importance of native plants to our lives.

In fact, it was Larry who told me I should join the North Carolina Wildflower Preservation Society, which I had never heard of. He and his wife Audrey were life members and had been active in the past. Little did he know that he would soon become much more active with this organization.

He Was Generous

After joining the NC Wildflower Preservation Society and becoming active, it was decided that I would form a chapter in Charlotte. Of course, I approached Larry and he generously let us meet in the classroom at the UNCC Botanical Garden. He helped us get the chapter off the ground and helped us grow our membership. This was the second chapter of what eventually became the North Carolina Native Plant Society (NCNPS). The first chapter was in the Raleigh area.

Later, the Charlotte Chapter joined with HAWK (Habitat and Wildlife Keepers, founded in 2006 as the first chapter of the NC Wildlife Federation) to work with Larry to start the Native Plant Certificate Program at UNCC Botanical Garden. The program has now educated hundreds of people in the value and use of native plants and has had a great impact on the greater Charlotte area. Larry taught the introductory class, imparting his love and knowledge while being entertaining, witty, and thoroughly enjoyable. He also taught the tree identification and fern classes.

He Navigated Government Procedures

Larry was always there to help us tread through the sometimes minefields of the botany world. Our yearly native plant sale and auctions often included plants that were also on the state/federal endangered plant lists. We are very strict on the conservation and collection of plants. We made sure that the endangered plants we sold were nursery propagated by members from stock legally obtained. Larry helped us work out procedures with the government authorities to allow the availability of these plants to others and thus keep genotypes in cultivation.

Larry was our auctioneer for our many plant sales over the years. His accurate, witty, and helpful descriptions of each plant raised their desirability as well as the bids. We were at one such auction at Hagan-Stone Park when Larry picked up the next plant and said its name, which identified it as an invasive plant. There was stunned silence as Larry, carefully and deliberately, threw the plant out of the open-air pavilion where it rolled down the slope! Just as calmly, he picked up the next plant and proceeded with the auction as if nothing had happened. We sat in shocked silence before picking up the bidding again. This story is often repeated when NCNPS members gather.

Larry’s Impact was Profound

Larry served as president of the NCNPS, guiding us to more involvement in native plant issues and a bigger impact across the state. He was on the NCNPS board of directors before becoming president and served in some capacity to the Society from 2008–2020. His last tour was as chairperson of the Native Plant Habitat Certification Program, where he helped people certify 42 more habitats. Larry fact-checked and edited the handouts found on the Society’s website, ncnwildflower.org. He freely shared his many pictures with us and the Recommended Native Plant section on our website was taken directly from his work.

It is impossible to estimate the profound effect Larry had on the world of native plants – especially in North Carolina – on people’s lives, and on me personally. He opened a world of beautify, intricacy, interrelatedness, and importance beyond my imagination. Thank you, Larry.

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