Julian Alfred Steyermark (January 27, 1909 – October 15, 1988) was a Venezuelan American botanist. His focus was on

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

vegetation, and he specialized in the family

Rubiaceae Rubiaceae () is a family (biology), family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with Petiole ( ...

Life and work

Julian Alfred Steyermark was born in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

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 (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1933. His distinguished career included the Field Museum of Chicago, the ''Instituto Botánico'' of Caracas, and he was with the

Missouri Botanical Garden The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 4344 Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also known informally as Shaw's Garden for founder and philanthropy, philanthropist Henry Shaw (philanthropist), Henry Shaw. I ...

in St. Louis from 1984 until his death. Steyermark's major works were his ''

Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana ''Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana'' is a multivolume flora describing the vascular plants of the Guayana Region of Venezuela, encompassing the three states south of the Orinoco: Amazonas, Bolívar, and Delta Amacuro. Initiated by Julian Alfred St ...

'', ''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 ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

''. 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 citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose o ...

botanical name A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar or cultivar group, Group epithets must conform t ...

Honours

Julian Alfred Steyermark is honoured in several genera of South American plants; *''

Steyermarkina ''Steyermarkina'' is a genus of South American plants in the tribe Eupatorieae within the family Asteraceae.Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

family, *''

Steyermarkochloa ''Steyermarkochloa'' is a genus of plants in the grass family. The only known species is ''Steyermarkochloa angustifolia'' , which is native to Colombia ( Guainía), Venezuela ( Amazonas), and Brazil ( Amazonas). The genus name of ''Steyermarkoc ...

'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of plants in the

Poaceae Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivate ...

family. *''

Steyerbromelia ''Steyerbromelia'' (named after Julian A. Steyermark, an American plant collector, author, and editor) is a genus of plants in the family Bromeliaceae The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 gen ...

'' in 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 ...

Bromeliaceae The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...

, published also in 1987, *'' Steyermarkia'' (in the family

) was also named in his honor in 1940. * '' Stanmarkia'' published in 1993, which is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s from Mexico and Guatemala, belonging to the family

Melastomataceae Melastomataceae () is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants found mostly in the tropics (two-thirds of the genera are from the New World tropics) comprising c. 175 genera and c. 5115 known species. Melastomes are annual or perennial herbs ...

. The name also honours another American botanist

Paul Carpenter Standley Paul Carpenter Standley (March 21, 1884 – June 2, 1963) was an American botanist known for his work on neotropical plants. Biography Standley was born on March 21, 1884, in Avalon, Missouri. He attended Drury College in Springfield, Missouri, ...

(1884–1963). Steyermark is also commemorated in the scientific name of a species of South American snake, '' Atractus steyermarki''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Steyermark", p. 254).

Major works

* ''Flora of Missouri'' (1963) Ames, Iowa: The Iowa State University Press. . * ''Bromeliaceae of Venezuela'' with Francisco Oliva-Esteva (1987) Caracas, Venezuela: Graficas Armitano, C. A.

Life and work

Honours

Major works

See also

References

Further reading