Arthur Cronquist
American botanist (1919–1992)
Arthur John Cronquist (March 19, 1919 – March 22, 1992) was an American biologist, botanist and a specialist on Compositae. He is considered one of the most influential botanists of the 20th century, largely due to his formulation of the Cronquist system as well as being the primary co-author to the Flora of the Pacific Northwest, still the most up to date flora for three northwest U.S. States to date. Two plant genera in the aster family have been named in his honor. These are Cronquistia, a possible synonym of Carphochaete, and Cronquistianthus, which is sometimes included as a group within Eupatorium. The former was applied by R.M. King and the latter by him and Harold E. Robinson.
Life
Arthur Cronquist was born on March 19, 1919, in San Jose, California, but he grew up outside of Portland, Oregon, as well as in Pocatello, Idaho. His parents divorced when he was young and he and his older sister were brought up by his mother, who worked for the Union Pacific Railroad in Pocatello. The young boy was an avid member of the Boy Scouts of America, through which he gained an appreciation for the outdoors. He did his undergraduate work at the Southern Branch of the University of Idaho (now Idaho State University). During his time there he studied field botany under Ray J. Davis, who was compiling the Flora of Idaho at the time.
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This entry incorporates text from “Arthur Cronquist” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.