Scott Zona (born 1959) 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 ...

. From 1993 to 2008, he was the Palm Biologist at

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is an botanic garden with extensive collections of rare tropical plants including Arecaceae, palms, cycads, flowering trees, and vines. It is located in the city of Coral Gables, Florida, Coral Gables, Miami-D ...

. From 2008 to 2017, he served as the curator for the

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...

Wertheim Conservatory. He is noted for his study of palms and is co-editor for Palms, the journal of the

International Palm Society The International Palm Society (IPS), formerly the Palm Society, is a horticultural society dedicated to the study of palms, their culture, conservation, and natural history. It was founded in 1956, and has an international membership. It is a ...

. He has done botanical research in the Western Pacific, Caribbean, Central America, South America, Madagascar, Malesia and the continental United States and published over 175 scientific and popular articles. He was honored with the Jesse M. Greenman Award in 1991 for his monograph of ''

Sabal ''Sabal'' is a genus of New World palms (or fan-palms). Currently, there are 17 recognized species of ''Sabal'', including one hybrid species. Distribution The species are native to the subtropical and tropical regions of the Americas, from ...

''. In late 2022, his book, ''A Gardener's Guide to Botany'', was published by Cool Springs Press, an imprint of

the Quarto Group The Quarto Group is a global illustrated book publishing group founded in 1976. It is domiciled in the United States and listed on the London Stock Exchange. Quarto creates and sells illustrated books for adults and children, across 50 countri ...

. The book won an

American Horticultural Society The American Horticultural Society (AHS) is a nonprofit, membership-based organization that promotes American horticulture. It is headquartered at River Farm in Alexandria, Virginia. History Established in 1922, the AHS is one of the oldest nat ...

br>Book Award
in 2023. A palm from New Guinea, ''Orania zonae'' A.P.Keim & J.Dransf., was named in his honor in 2012.Keim, A.P. & Dransfield, J. 2012. Kew Bulletin 67: 127. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-012-9356-6

References

External links

* Scott Zona citations on Google Schola

* Knorr, S. 1995. Scott Zona: born to be a botanist. Garden News (Fairchild Tropical Garden) 50(2): 13, 14. American horticulturists Florida International University people 1959 births Living people 21st-century American botanists {{Horticulture-stub