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Harley was born on March 9, 1886, at Anaconda, Montana. His family moved to Indiana in 1899, where he attended Shortridge High School in Indianapolis. He went to Harvard in 1904, working as an assistant to B. L. Robinson and M. L. Fernald, where in 1908 he earned an AB degree cum laude in chemistry. In 1909, he came to Washington with the Bureau of Plant Industry as a chemical biologist. During this time he worked on the genetics of Oenothera. In 1915 he became assistant professor of botany at the University of Michigan, full professor in 1921, head of the Botany Department from 1922 to1947, and Director of the Botanical Garden from 1919 to 1955. In 1918, he explored and botanized in Sumatra (mastering the Batak language!) with the U.S. Rubber Company. He also collected in Formosa, Guatemala, British Honduras, Philippines, Panama, Haiti, Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile. He died of heart failure February 21, 1960, at the age of 73, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Harley was elected to the Washington Biologists’ Field Club in 1911 and maintained his membership until his death.