Arthur John Cronquist (March 19, 1919 – March 22, 1992) was an American biologist,

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and a specialist on

Compositae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

. He is considered one of the most influential botanists of the 20th century, largely due to his formulation of the

Cronquist system The Cronquist system is a taxonomic classification system of flowering plants. It was developed by Arthur Cronquist in a series of monographs and texts, including ''The Evolution and Classification of Flowering Plants'' (1968; 2nd edition, 1988) ...

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 ''Cronquistianthus'' is a genus of shrubs native to the Andes in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The genus is named after the American botanist Arthur John Cronquist Arthur John Cronquist (March 19, 1919 – March 22, 1992) was an American ...

'', which is sometimes included as a group within ''

Eupatorium ''Eupatorium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, containing from 36 to 60 species depending on the classification system. Most are herbaceous perennials growing to tall. A few are shrubs. The genus is native to temper ...

''. The former was applied by R.M. King and the latter by him and

Harold E. Robinson Harold Ernest Robinson (May 22, 1932 – December 17, 2020) was an American botanist and entomologist. Career Robinson's specialty was the sunflower family (Asteraceae) and the bryophytes. He has named or described over 2,800 new species and s ...

Life

Arthur Cronquist was born on March 19, 1919, in San Jose, California, but he grew up outside of Portland,

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, as well as in Pocatello,

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...

. 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 The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

in Pocatello. The young boy was an avid member of the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded in ...

, through which he gained an appreciation for the outdoors. He did his undergraduate work at the Southern Branch of the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The Universit ...

(now

Idaho State University , mottoeng = " The truth will set you free" , established = , former_names = Academy of Idaho(1901–1915)Idaho Technical Institute(1915–1927) University of Idaho—Southern Branch(1927–1947)Idaho Sta ...

). During his time there he studied field botany under Ray J. Davis, who was compiling the ''Flora of Idaho'' at the time. After receiving his bachelor's degree in 1938 in Biology, he went on to earn a master's degree in Biology at

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah ...

in 1940 working under

Bassett Maguire Bassett Maguire (August 4, 1904 – February 6, 1991) was an American botanist, head curator of the New York Botanical Garden, and a leader of scientific expeditions to the Guyana Highlands in Brazil and Venezuela. Life Maguire was born in Gadsd ...

. In the same year he married Mabel Allred, who he remained with until his death. They had two children and a fondness for cats. Due to a childhood accident, Cronquist's right arm was partially disabled, making him unfit for military service in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Instead he began work on his doctorate at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

under C.O. Rosendahl, earning his PhD in Botany in 1944. His dissertation was a revision of the genus ''

Erigeron ''Erigeron'' () is a large genus of plants in the family Asteraceae. It is closely related to the genus ''Aster'' and the true daisies in the genus ''Bellis''. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution in dry, mountainous areas and grassland, wi ...

''. In 1943, while still working on his doctorate, he was offered a position at the

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

to work on

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae ...

for "The New Britton & Brown Illustrated Flora" then in preparation by Henry Gleason. From 1946 to 1948 he held a position at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

, followed by a three-year position at

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

. Before returning to the New York Botanical Garden where he would spend the rest of his career, he worked as a botanist in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

with the U.S. Foreign Aid Program from 1951 to 1952. He died of heart failure on March 22, 1992, while studying specimens of '' Mentzelia'' at the herbarium at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

Work

Development of the Cronquist system

While Cronquist was in his mid-thirties, he began to question the usefulness of

Adolf Engler Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler (25 March 1844 – 10 October 1930) was a German botanist. He is notable for his work on plant taxonomy and phytogeography, such as ''Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien'' (''The Natural Plant Families''), edited with ...

& Karl Prantl's taxonomic system, laid down in their work ''Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien'' (The Natural Plant Families), which had been the dominant system since the late 19th century. Although Cronquist was originally involved mostly with the family Asteraceae rather than with general systems, he began publishing on the topic in 1957 after much discussion with his peers concerning the challenge of forming a new taxonomic system. His initial publication (Cronquist, 1957) dealt purely with

dicotyledons The dicotyledons, also known as dicots (or, more rarely, dicotyls), are one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants (angiosperms) were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the typical characteristics of the group: namely, ...

. At the time he began his work on his general scheme of classification, several others were working with the same goal in mind, including the American Robert F. Thorne, the Dane Rolf Dahlgren, and

Armen Takhtajan Armen Leonovich Takhtajan or Takhtajian ( hy, Արմեն Լևոնի Թախտաջյան; russian: Армен Леонович Тахтаджян; surname also transliterated Takhtadjan, Takhtadzhi︠a︡n or Takhtadzhian, pronounced takh-tuh-JA ...

of the U.S.S.R. Each of them would go on to produce their own taxonomic schemes, though Cronquist's would prove to be the most widely adopted. While working on the project in the 1960s, Cronquist came to be close friends with Armen Takhtajan and both men put all of their information at one another's disposal. To this end Cronquist decided to learn Russian in order to have access to the scientific literature that the Soviet Union had accumulated, which was largely unknown to the rest of the world. He made several trips to the U.S.S.R. to meet with Takhtajan and other Soviet botanists and translated many botanical works from Russian throughout his life. Cronquist's first overview of classification was published in 1960, followed by his ''The Evolution and Classification of Flowering Plants'' in 1968 with a revised and expanded second edition being released in 1988. This work also was a survey of the practices of systematic botany. In 1981 he published his landmark work, ''An Integrated System of Classification of Flowering Plants''. The work divided flowering plants into 2 classes with a number of subclasses and down to the family level, with each taxon being described and defined. The system would go on to be adopted by several major projects in floristics, including the ''

Jepson Manual ''The Jepson Manual'' is a flora of the vascular plants that are either native to or naturalized in California. Botanists often refer to the book simply as ''Jepson''. It is produced by the University and Jepson Herbaria, of the University of Ca ...

'' (1993), ''

Flora of North America The ''Flora of North America North of Mexico'' (usually referred to as ''FNA'') is a multivolume work describing the native plants and naturalized plants of North America, including the United States, Canada, St. Pierre and Miquelon, and Greenlan ...

'', ''Flora of China'', ''

Flora of Australia The flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 30,000 vascular and 14,000 non-vascular plants, 250,000 species of fungi and over 3,000 lichens. The flora has strong affinities with the flora of Gondwana, ...

'' and of course Gleason and Cronquist's ''Manual of the Vascular Plants'', which was published in 1991. Professor Cronquist was also a passionate and dedicated teacher who mentored countless students. He was a role model for what it meant to be a plant biologist and taxonomist. Among those who knew him, his baritone voice among the herbarium stacks will continue to chill the soul and warm the heart.

List of selected publications

Arthur Cronquist is probably best remembered for his work dealing with his

, which was developed in these and other works: * Cronquist, Arthur. (1957). Outline of a new system of families and orders of dicotyledons. ''Bull. Jard. Bot. Etat Brux.'' 27: 13–40. * * * * * *

References

Bibliography