UNLV offered fertile ground to Wesley Niles. When the biologist and plant taxonomist came to UNLV in 1969, there was little recordkeeping on native and non-native plant life in southern Nevada.
So Niles dug in, establishing a herbarium in 1970 to document and catalog the occurrence and distribution of the region's vascular plant species.
His dedication led to the herbarium being designated a National Resource Collection by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists in 1974. Over the course of his career, the herbarium grew in size to roughly 75,000 specimens. Today it houses the most extensive scientific collection of Mojave Desert plants.
In addition to serving as a research, educational, and reference facility, over the years the herbarium facilitated studies in plant systematics, ecology, succession, biogeography, climate change, and conservation biology. With his students and colleagues, Niles monitored and evaluated changes in the distribution of rare and endangered species as well as invasive plants with respect to public lands management.
"One can get the history of the invasion of nonnative plants of Southern Nevada right here," Niles said in a 2003 interview.
Niles retired in 2002 and was granted emeritus status. The herbarium was officially named the Wesley E. Niles Herbarium the following year. He continued to work part time in the herbarium and conduct plant field surveys long after retirement, even publishing an annotated plant checklist of the Spring Mountains in 2007.
“After more than 30 years, it’s hard to break a habit,” Niles said at the time.
Most of his work with the herbarium involved finding samples for researchers studying specific plants, their environments, or their unique properties.
Niles passed away on Nov. 17, 2023, at the age of 91. He had remained the curator of the herbarium and the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about Southern Nevada plants up until his passing.
The W.E. Niles Herbarium was transferred from UNLV to the College of Southern Nevada in January 2023, where it continues its research and educational functions under the same name.
Niles will be remembered for his contributions to plant taxonomy, teaching, and for creating an invaluable repository of a vast collection of plant specimens for study by local and regional botanists and researchers worldwide.
A version of this story was originally written by Brian Sodoma in 2012. It was updated in 2024 by Erica Corliss with help from Kathryn Birgy, W.E. Niles herbarium collection manager at UNLV from 1996-2022.
