Herbert Louis (né Lewis) Mason[5] (1896–1994) was an American botany professor, plant collector, and herbarium director.
[8] From 1935 to 1963 he was a member of the board of editors of the journal Madroño, where he was assisted for many years by Annetta Mary Carter, Ethel Katherine Crum, and Helen Sharsmith.
[10][7] In 1949 and 1950, Mason joined A. H. Miller and R. A. Stirton in an expedition to the Magdalena Basin of Colombia, sponsored by the Associates in Tropical Biogeography.
The State Division of Fish and Game commissioned a botanical survey of California wetlands carried out by Mason and his graduate students.
[6]For volume 3 of the 4-volume series Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States by LeRoy Abrams, Mason wrote the section on the phlox family Polemoniaceae except for the genus Polemonium, which was written by John Fraser Davidson, and the genus Gilia, which Mason wrote jointly with Alva Day Grant.
He was recalled from retirement to serve as director of this project, which he found richly rewarding, and which has had an important impact on science education in the United States.