Julian Alfred Steyermark
Encyclopedia
Julian Alfred Steyermark (January 27, 1909 – October 15, 1988) was an American botanist. His focus was on New World vegetation, and he specialized in the family Rubiaceae
.
as the only child of the businessman Leo L. Steyermark and Mamie I. Steyermark (née Isaacs). He studied at the Henry Shaw School of Botany at Washington University in St. Louis
, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1933. His distinguished career included the Field Museum of Chicago, the Instituto Botanicao of Caracas and he was with the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis from 1984 until his death. Steyermark's major works were his Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana, Flora of Missouri, and his Flora of Guatemala.
During his life, Steyermark collected over 130,000 plants in twenty-six countries, which earned him an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records. He made the initial descriptions of 2,392 taxa of plants, including one family, 38 genera, and 1,864 species. The standard author abbreviation Steyerm. is used to indicate Steyermark when citing
a botanical name
. The plant genus Steyermarkia was named in his honor.
Rubiaceae
The Rubiaceae is a family of flowering plants, variously called the coffee family, madder family, or bedstraw family. The group contains many commonly known plants, including the economically important coffee , quinine , and gambier , and the horticulturally valuable madder , west indian jasmine ,...
.
Life and work
Julian Alfred Steyermark was born in St. Louis, MissouriMissouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
as the only child of the businessman Leo L. Steyermark and Mamie I. Steyermark (née Isaacs). He studied at the Henry Shaw School of Botany at Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...
, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1933. His distinguished career included the Field Museum of Chicago, the Instituto Botanicao of Caracas and he was with the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis from 1984 until his death. Steyermark's major works were his Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana, Flora of Missouri, and his Flora of Guatemala.
During his life, Steyermark collected over 130,000 plants in twenty-six countries, which earned him an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records. He made the initial descriptions of 2,392 taxa of plants, including one family, 38 genera, and 1,864 species. The standard author abbreviation Steyerm. is used to indicate Steyermark when citing
Author citation (botany)
In botanical nomenclature, author citation refers to citing the person who validly published a botanical name, i.e. who first published the name while fulfilling the formal requirements as specified by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature...
a botanical name
Botanical name
A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar and/or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants...
. The plant genus Steyermarkia was named in his honor.
Major works
- Flora of Missouri (1963) Ames, Iowa: The Iowa State University Press. ISBN 0-8138-0655-0.
- Bromeliaceae of Venezuela with Francisco Oliva-Esteva (1987) Caracas, Venezuela: Graficas Armitano, C. A. ISBN 9789802160204