William C. Dickison's PhD thesis entitled Comparative Morphological Studies on Dilleniaceae, resulted in seven papers each dealing with a different plant organ or structure- e.g. wood, carpels, pollen, leaves, etc. This essentially set the stage for his life's work, which involved careful and thorough anatomical investigations of several angiosperm families, with the intent of using the information to solve systematic problems. Some of these taxa fell in or near the Dilleniidae or Rosidae sensu Cronquist but are more scattered now (core eudicots, rosids, asterids in current phylogenies). Hi seminal paper in 1975 in the Bases of Angiosperm Phylogeny volume on the contributions of vegetative anatomy to understanding angiosperm phylogeny still is pertinent to current morphological based phylogenetic analyses. During his 30 year career, Bill collected, studied and provided basic documentation of wood, floral, leaf or pollen morphology/anatomy on, for example, Connaraceae, Cunoniaceae, Actinidiaceae, Clethraceae, Styracaceae, Aristolochiaceae, and smaller, less well-known families of tropical plants, such as the Bonnetiaceae, Physenaceae, Medusagynaceae, Caryocaraceae, Alseuosmiaceae, and Strasburgeriaceae. This information was used to address questions of relationships and, frequently, ecological adaptations. His posthumously published book, Integrative Plant Anatomy, both introduces the study of plant anatomy and illustrates how anatomy is used in various aspects of society and other areas of botany. Numerous undergraduate and graduate students recall him as positively influencing their view and knowledge of botany. Thus his legacy is multifaceted: precise and excellent data applicable to phylogenetic assessments of relationships for many angiosperm families, an excellent slide and preserved specimen collection housed at the UNC Herbarium, an overview of the nature and value of plant anatomical research, and numerous students well trained in plant morphology/anatomy/diversity.

Key words: anatomy, angiosperm, systematics