Dr. Julia Morton and her husband Kendal Morton worked for years creating a living encyclopedia of edible plants. They collected and tested tropical fruits in the Bahamas and in Florida. They later wrote “Fifty Tropical Fruits of Nassau,” which served as a springboard to establish the Morton Collectanea as a research center at the University of Miami. One of her most important contributions to Florida agriculture was the discovery of creeping indigo as the cause of a crippling and usually fatal neurological syndrome in Florida horses. When her husband died, she perpetuated their research and fieldwork for the National Cancer Institute.  Morton also conducted surveys of cashew plantations in Venezuela, Colombia and Peru.  In 1973, she received a Florida State University honorary doctoral degree for her research and writings to the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense.