Jerzy Rzedowski Rotter (27 December 1926 – March 2023) was a Polish-born Mexican

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 ...

, whose focus was on Mexican

floristics Floristics is the study of plants of geographical regions. It is a branch of phytogeography, which technically makes it a branch of botany, geography, and a subbranch of biogeography. Harvard University has a history of research with early contr ...

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 ...

, and ecology.

Early life and education

Rzedowski was born in Lwów, Poland (now in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

) to Arnold and Ernestyna (nee Rotter) Rzedowski. The family moved to Silesia when he was a child. When he was young the family was imprisoned in a

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

until World War II ended, when he was liberated by the Allies. They then travelled to Mexico in 1946 for a new life. Rzedowski studied for a bachelor's degree in

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

at the Instituto Politecnico Nacional, starting in 1949, and a PhD in Botany at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México awarded in 1961. His bachelor's thesis, on the Flora of the Pedregal de San Angel, (''Vegetación del Pedregal de San Angel, Distrito Federal, Mexico'') and doctoral thesis (''Vegetación del Estado de San Luis Potosi'') led to his scientific research career.

Career

Rzedowski worked at Syntex in 1953. From 1954 to 1959 he was appointed a professor at Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí and director of that University's Instituto de Investigación de Zonas Desérticas. In 1959 he moved to the Colegio de Postgraduados de Chapingo, Mexico as professor-investigator and then in 1961 was appointed professor at the Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas del Instituto Politecnico Nacional, where he remained until 1984. He then founded the Centro Regional del Bajío, Instituto de Ecología, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán. At the time he started to work on Mexican

, very few studies were published in that field, so he became a pioneer in it. His research has involved extensive fieldwork. Afterwards, he became the most respected botanist in Mexico. He explored a lot of places surveying the local plant life and collected more than 50,000 specimens that can be found in many herbaria. He has also contributed significantly to the taxonomy of Burseraceae and Compositae. Rzedowski also provided leadership to the botanical community in Mexico and internationally. He was significant in the re-development of th
Sociedad Botanica de Mexico
and he organized the First Mexican Botanical Congress in 1960. In 1988 he launched the scientific journa
Acta Botánica Mexicana

Personal life and death

In 1954 Rzedowski married Graciela Calderón Díaz-Barriga. Rzedowski died in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán in March 2023, at the age of 96.

Publications

Rzedowski was the author of ''Vegetación de México'' (1971) and the co-editor and co-author of ''Flora Fanerogámica del Valle de México'' (1979; 2001, 2nd edition), and of ''Flora del Bajío y de Regiones Adyacentes'' (1991–).

Honors

In 1995, he was awarded the

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botany, botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' (1876) was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessaril ...

Award. In 1999 he was one of the botanists on whom was conferred the Millennium Botany Award. In 2005 he, jointly with Graciela Calderón de Rzedowski, was awarded the José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany. The herbaria of Instituto Politécnico Nacional and of Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro are named after Rzedowski, as is also the botanical garden of Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro. The following taxa have been named after him: *''

Agave ''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the arid regions of the Americas. The genus is primarily known for its succulent and xerophytic species that typically form large Rosette (botany), rosettes of strong, fleshy leaves. Many plan ...

rzedowskiana'' *'' Anthurium rzedowskii'' *'' Bernardia rzedowskii'' *'' Bouvardia rzedowskii'' *'' Bursera rzedowskii'' *'' Canthon rzedowskii'' *'' Cercocarpus rzedowskii'' *'' Commelina rzedowskii'' *''

Crotalaria ''Crotalaria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family (biology), family Fabaceae (subfamily Faboideae) commonly known as rattlepods. The genus includes over 700 species of herbaceous plants and shrubs. Africa is the continent with the major ...

rzedowskii'' *'' Croton rzedowskii'' *'' Dalea rzedowskii'' *'' Dioon rzedowskii'' *'' Eleocharis rzedowskii'' *''

Euphorbia ''Euphorbia'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family (biology), family Euphorbiaceae. Euphorbias range from tiny annual plants to large and long-lived trees, with perhaps the tallest being ''Eu ...

rzedowskii'' *'' Galium rzedowskii'' *'' Habenaria rzedowskiana'' *'' Jatropha rzedowskii'' *'' Magnolia rzedowskiana'' *''

Pachyphytum ''Pachyphytum'' is a small genus of Succulent plant, succulents in the Sedum, stonecrop family, Crassulaceae, native to Mexico, where species can be found growing at elevations from above sea level. The generic name comes from the ancient Greek ...

rzedowskii'' *'' Pinus rzedowskii'' *'' Psilocybe rzedowskii'' *'' Rondeletia rzedowskii'' *'' Rzedowskia tolantonguensis'' *''

Schoenocaulon ''Schoenocaulon'' is a North American genus of perennial herbaceous flowering plants, ranging from the southern United States to Peru. It is a member of the Melanthiaceae, according to the APG III system, APG III classification system, and is pla ...

rzedowskii'' *'' Sedum jerzedowskii''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rzedowski, Jerzy 1926 births 2023 deaths Mexican botanists Nazi concentration camp survivors National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni Instituto Politécnico Nacional alumni Academic staff of the National Autonomous University of Mexico Scientists from Lviv Polish emigrants to Mexico Jewish concentration camp survivors Polish Holocaust survivors