Joseph Mathen Pallithanam (1915–1984) [1] was an Indian botanist. He was born to Mathachan (Vachaparampil) and Mariamma (Pallithanam) in Kainadyvillage of Kuttanadu. He belongs to a traditional agricultural family. His maternal uncle Pallithanthu Mathai Luka (Pallithanathu Kochu Mathan) pioneered the backwater kayal cultivation in Kuttanadu.
After his education, he became a priest in the Society of Jesus. He then completed a doctorate in botany, and became an instructor at St. Xaviers College, Tirunelveli Tamil Nadu, and then at St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirapalli. He dedicated his time to taxonomic studies and the compilation of florae.
Pallithanam was one of the first Indian Jesuit botanists. Though he had done considerable work in field of taxonomy, very little has been published; however, along with Father Balam of St. Joseph's College, he inspired scores of students to study the botany of India.
His book A Pocket Flora of the Sirumalai Hills South India [2] is still considered as a notable work on South Indian flora; it is still cited in the scientific literature. [3] [4] [5] [6]
George Bentham was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studied law, but had a fascination with botany from an early age, which he soon pursued, becoming president of the Linnaean Society in 1861, and a fellow of the Royal Society in 1862. He was the author of a number of important botanical works, particularly flora. He is best known for his taxonomic classification of plants in collaboration with Joseph Dalton Hooker, his Genera Plantarum (1862–1883). He died in London in 1884.
William Roxburgh FRSE FRCPE FLS was a Scottish surgeon and botanist who worked extensively in India, describing species and working on economic botany. He is known as the founding father of Indian botany. He published numerous works on Indian botany, illustrated by careful drawings made by Indian artists and accompanied by taxonomic descriptions of many plant species. Apart from the numerous species that he named, many species were named in his honour by his collaborators.
Karel Bořivoj Presl was a Czech botanist.
Sir George King was a British botanist who was appointed superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta in 1871, and became the first Director of the Botanical Survey of India from 1890. He was recognised for his work in the cultivation of cinchona and for setting up a system for the inexpensive distribution of quinine throughout India through the postal system.
Joseph Charles Arthur was a pioneer American plant pathologist and mycologist best known for his work with the parasitic rust fungi (Pucciniales). He was a charter member of the Botanical Society of America, the Mycological Society of America, and the American Phytopathological Society. He was a recipient of the first Doctorate in Sciences awarded by Cornell University. The standard author abbreviation Arthur is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.
Nikolai Stepanovich Turczaninow was a Russian botanist and plant collector who first identified several genera, and many species, of plants.
Ethelbert Blatter SJ was a Swiss Jesuit priest and pioneering botanist in British India. Author of five books and over sixty papers on the flora of the Indian subcontinent, he was Principal and Professor of Botany at St Xavier College, Bombay and Vice-President of the Bombay Natural History Society. In 1932, he became the first recipient of the Johannes Bruehl Memorial Medal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
James Sykes Gamble was an English botanist who specialized in the flora of the Indian sub-continent; he became Director of the British Imperial Forest School at Dehradun, and a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Philip Furley Fyson (1877–1947) was a botanist and educator who worked in India. He is noted as the author of the first illustrated volumes on the flora of the South Indian hills. The Fyson prize is instituted in his honour by the Presidency College, Chennai for work in the area of Natural science.
Rogers McVaugh was a research professor of botany and the UNC Herbarium's curator of Mexican plants. He was also Adjunct Research Scientist of the Hunt Institute in Carnegie Mellon University and a Professor Emeritus of botany in the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Sir Arthur William Hill was Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and a noted botanist and taxonomist.
Thomas Taylor (1786–1848) was an Irish botanist, bryologist, and mycologist.
Chrispus Livingstone, often referred as Livi, is an Indian research scientist, botanist, educator and multifaceted person. He was instrumental in upgrading the department of Botany to one of the top three in India. During his stint the department witnessed significant innovative changes in the curriculum with the introduction of new papers and special projects (optionals) at various levels besides high quality research projects carried out by the senior professors and their research scholars leading to several accomplishments. He was also instrumental in setting up India's first artificial horticulture farm. Among his varied interests is the taxonomy of tropical plants, especially flora of Chennai, then Madras. He is perhaps best known for his book The flowering plants of Madras City and its immediate neighbourhood.
Thomas Gaskell Tutin, FRS was Professor of Botany at the University of Leicester and co-author of Flora of the British Isles and Flora Europaea.
Stephen Troyte Dunn was a British botanist. He described and systematized a significant number of plants around the world, his input most noticeable in the taxonomy of the flora of China. Among the plants he first scientifically described was Bauhinia blakeana, the national flower of Hong Kong.
William Grant Craib was a British botanist. Craib was Regius Professor of Botany at Aberdeen University and later worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Hermenegild Santapau (1903-1970) was a Spanish born naturalized Indian Jesuit priest and botanist, known for his taxonomical research on Indian flora. He was credited with the Latin nomenclature of several Indian plant species. A recipient of the Order of Alphonsus X the Wise and the Birbal Sahni Medal, he was honoured by the Government of India in 1967, with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award for his contributions to the society.
Gopinath Panigrahi is a botanist and plant taxonomist. He was born in the village Baikunthapur, Basudebpur block, Bhadrak district, Orissa, India and obtained a Ph.D. in 1954 from the University of Leeds where he studied Cytogenetics.
Koyapillil Mathai Matthew (1930–2004) also known as Father K.M. Matthew was an Indian Jesuit priest and botanist. He extensively studied the floral diversity of Tamil Nadu, and published several research papers and books. In 1967, he established the Rapinat Herbarium at St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli.
Barry John Conn, is an Australian botanist. He was awarded a Ph.D. from Adelaide University in 1982 for work on Prostanthera.
1915-1984