Claude Wilson Wardlaw was a British botanist, who specialised in diseases of the banana

Banana

Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....

.

Career

Born on 4 February 1901, Wardlaw was educated at Paisley Grammar School

Paisley Grammar School

Paisley Grammar School, known for a period following 1896 as the Paisley Grammar School and William B. Barbour Academy, is a non-denominational state comprehensive secondary school in Paisley, the largest town in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The school was founded in 1576 and was formerly a selective...

, before studying botany

Botany

Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...

 at Glasgow University. After gaining a PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 and DSc

DSC

-in academia:* D.Sc., Doctor of Science* Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine* Dalton State College, Georgia* Daytona State College, Florida* Deep Springs College, California* Dixie State College of Utah...

, he taught botany at the University.

His professional specialism in bananas began in 1928, when he was appointed Pathologist for Banana Research at the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

. His focus was researching the Panama Disease

Panama disease

Panama disease, a Fusarium wilt, is a banana plant disease caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum. The fungus attacks the roots of the banana plant. The disease is resistant to fungicide and cannot be controlled chemically.-History:...

 that had affected plantations in the West Indies. His book Green Havoc (1935) describes his investigations. In the same year, he published another book, Diseases of the Banana, which was republished in an expanded edition as Banana Diseases in 1961 and 1972.

While in Trinidad, Wardlaw was also involved with the work of the Low Temperature Research Station, where he was appointed officer-in-chief in 1933, as well as researching various tropical fruits of the region.

In 1940, Wardlaw returned to Britain to serve as Professor of Cryptogamic Botany at the University of Manchester

University of Manchester

The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

. He held this position until 1958, when he became the George Harrison Professor of Botany, and later Emeritus Professor of Botany in 1966. He was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Royal Society of Edinburgh

The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity, operating on a wholly independent and non-party-political basis and providing public benefit throughout Scotland...

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Published works

• Green Havoc (1935)
• Diseases of the Banana (1935)
• Tropical Fruits and Vegetables: Storage and Transport (1937)
• Phylogeny and Morphogenesis (1952)
• Embryogenesis in Plants (1955)
• Banana Diseases (1961)
• Organisation and Evolution in Plants (1965)
• Morphogenesis in Plants: A Contemporary Study (1968)
• Essays on Form in Plants (1968)
• Cellular Differentiation in Plants, and Other Essays (1969)