Background
Elmer was born in 1870 in Van Dyne, Wisconsin, United States.
Elmer was born in 1870 in Van Dyne, Wisconsin, United States.
He was educated at the Washington Agricultural College, and earned a Master of Science
From Stanford University in 1903. He made extensive plant collections in the Philippines from 1904 to 1927, and also in California, Borneo, and New Guinea. He was editor of Leaflets of Philippine Botany, where he published more than 1,500 new species.
Elmer was killed on April 17, 1942 in the Philippines after being taken captive by Japanese forces in the Battle of Bataan.
Emma Osterman Elmer survived the battle and the Bataan Death March and returned to the United States after the war.