He later explained his appointment at such a young age as being the result of World War I: "All the people who should have had those jobs were dead."[5] There he collaborated with Bowles on a number of plant monographs, such as Bowles' Handbook of Crocus[26] and their work on Anemone japonica (Anemone hupehensis var. japonica).[27][lower-alpha 4] Written in 1947, it is still considered one of the most comprehensive accounts of the origins and nomenclature of fall-blooming anemones.[29] Stearn was one of the last people to see Bowles alive,[30] and when Bowles died, Stearn wrote an appreciation of him,[31] and later contributed the entry on Bowles to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.[32] Much of his spare time was spent studying at the Kew Gardens.[11]