Alan W. Meerow is an American

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

, born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1952. He specializes in the

taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Amaryllidaceae The Amaryllidaceae are a family of herbaceous, mainly perennial and bulbous (rarely rhizomatous) flowering plants in the monocot order Asparagales. The family takes its name from the genus '' Amaryllis'' and is commonly known as the amaryl ...

and the

horticulture Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

of palms and tropical ornamental plants. He also works on the

population genetics Population genetics is a subfield of genetics that deals with genetic differences within and among populations, and is a part of evolutionary biology. Studies in this branch of biology examine such phenomena as Adaptation (biology), adaptation, s ...

and

molecular systematics Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

cycads Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male or ...

and

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae ** List of Arecaceae genera **Palm oil * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music ...

s. He studied at the Bronx High School of Science and then at the

University of New York There is no real institution in the United States that bears the exact name University of New York. However, it is possible that such a reference may be used for one of the following: In New York State * New York University, a private research u ...

. Dropping out after a year, aged 19, he moved to Santa Cruz,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. After living on a farm for four years he decided to resume his studies in

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and

at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

. Initially his interest in botany was focused on trees, working for three years in the

arboretum An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

of the University. He graduated in December 1978 and continued his postgraduate study at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

, after working for two years at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, where his interest in Amaryllidaceae was stimulated. His master's thesis, in 1983, was on the taxonomy of the genus '' Eucharis''. He continued with the same subject in his doctoral studies, producing his thesis entitled "A Monograph of Eucharis and

Caliphruria ''Urceolina'' is a genus of South American plants in the amaryllis family native to Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, and Peru. It has also been introduced to many South and Central American states, as well as In ...

(Amaryllidaceae)" in 1986. He then moved to the

's Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center where he was a palm and tropical ornamental specialist. As well as carrying out research on the phylogeny and taxonomy of the Amaryllidaceae, he bred ''

Hippeastrum ''Hippeastrum'' () is a genus of 116 species, and over 600 Hybrid (biology), hybrids and cultivars, of perennial plant, perennial, herbaceous plant, herbaceous and bulbous plants, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, ...

'' and other ornamental species. In 1998 th
International Bulb Society
awarded him the

Herbert Medal The Herbert Medal is awarded by the International Bulb Society to those whose achievements in advancing knowledge of ornamental bulbous plants is considered to be outstanding.bulbous plants Bulb or Bulbs may refer to: Common uses * Bulb, a food-storage structure within some plants ** Ornamental bulbous plant, Ornamental bulb, a kind of perennial plant * Light bulb, an electric lamp Maritime * Bulb keel, a type of keel * Bulbous b ...

. From October 1999 until July 2019, he was located at the National Germplasm Repository of the United States Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), based in Miami, working on the conservation, genetics, systematics, characterization, and breeding of species of subtropical and tropical ornamentals. In 2005, th
American Society of Plant Taxonomists
awarded him the Peter Raven Award for Scientific Outreach. In 2017, he was awarded th
David Fairchild Medal for Plant Exploration
by the

National Tropical Botanical Garden The National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) is a Hawaii-based not-for-profit institution dedicated to tropical plant research, conservation, and education. It operates a network of botanical gardens and preserves in Hawaii and Florida. History ...

. Upon retirement from USDA, Meerow became a Research Fellow of th
Montgomery Botanical Center
in Coral Gables, FL, and is an adjunct professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University.

Selected publications

Meerow has published over 250 scientific papers, numerous magazine and university extension articles, and is the author or co-author of three popular books on palms. * * , in .
(additional excerpts)
* , in * * * * * * *
Full text
* * * , in * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Jestrow, B., Peguero, B., Jiménez, F., Verdecia, R., González-Oliva, L., Moya, C.E., Cinea, W., Griffith, M.P., Meerow, A.W., Maunder, M. and Francisco-Ortega, J., 2017. A conservation framework for the Critically Endangered endemic species of the Caribbean palm Coccothrinax. Oryx, pp. 1–12. doi:10.1017/S0030605317000588.. * Meerow, A.W., Reed, S.T., Dunn, C. and Schnell, E., 2017. Fragrance analysis of two scented Hippeastrum species. HortScience 52: 1853–1860. * * Campos-Rocha, A., A. W. Meerow & J. H. A. Dutilh. 2018. Two new critically endangered species of Hippeastrum (Amaryllidaceae) from the Brazilian Cerrado. Phytotaxa 360: 91–102. * de Lima, N.E., Carvalho, A. A., Meerow, A. W. and Manfrin, M. H. 2018. A review of the palm genus Acrocomia: Neotropical green gold. Organism Diversity and Evolution 18: 151–161.

References

Bibliography

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Excerpts
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External links

Alan Meerow: Google Scholar citations
*
Alan Meerow ORCID record
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meerow, Alan W. 21st-century American botanists Botanists with author abbreviations Living people 1952 births