Cornelis Gijsbert Gerrit Jan van Steenis (31 October 1901 – 14 May 1986) was a Dutch

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 ...

. Van Steenis wrote many publications on the flora of the Maritime Southeast Asia region, among others about

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 plant geography. Besides his expeditions in the Malay region, he also traveled in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Biography

Van Steenis attended high school in Utrecht from 1915 to 1920. He obtained his masters and PhD at the

University of Utrecht Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of 39,769 students, a ...

in 1925 and 1927, respectively. From 1927 to 1946, Van Steenis was botanist at the

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

of 's Lands Plantentuin at Buitenzorg (now

Bogor Bogor City (), or Bogor (, ), is a landlocked city in the West Java, Indonesia. Located around south of the national capital of Jakarta, Bogor is the 6th largest city in the Jakarta metropolitan area and the 14th overall nationwide.

). From 1935 to 1942, he was co-editor of ''De Tropische Natuur'', the magazine of the Dutch East Indian Natural History Society. From 1946 to 1949 he was active in the Netherlands. In 1948 and 1950, he took up Heinrich Zollinger's 1857 recognition of

Malesia Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indomalayan and Australasian realms. It is a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical kingdom. It was first recognized as a distinct region ...

as a

floristic region A phytochorion, in phytogeography, is a geographic area with a relatively uniform composition of plant species. Adjacent phytochoria do not usually have a sharp boundary, but rather a soft one, a transitional area in which many species from both re ...

in the Paleotropical kingdom, and expanded it. Van Steenis suggested and then organized '' Flora Malesiana'', a description of the flora of Malesia. From 1950 until his death in 1986, he was director of the Flora Malesiana Foundation. In 1951, he was appointed professor of tropical

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

plant geography Phytogeography (from Greek φυτόν, ''phytón'' = "plant" and γεωγραφία, ''geographía'' = "geography" meaning also distribution) or botanical geography is the branch of biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution o ...

on behalf of the

Royal Tropical Institute KIT, formerly the Royal Tropical Institute (Dutch: Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen), is an applied knowledge institute located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is an independent centre of expertise, education, intercultural cooperation and hospi ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. From 1953 he was a professor in these subjects at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...

. From 1962 to 1972 he was professor and director of the National Herbarium of the Netherlands as a successor of Herman Johannes Lam. Van Steenis was succeeded in this position by Kees Kalkman. On 5 June 1950 he was elected a corresponding member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

, but cancelled his membership on 1 December of that year. He was also a corresponding member of the Botanical Society of America. Elected a Foreign Member of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

in 1960. The Van Steenis Building of the University of Leiden, the

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 ( ...

genus '' Steenisia'', and the street ''Cornelis van Steenishof'' in

Oegstgeest Oegstgeest () is a town and municipality in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. Its population was in . Etymology The portion ''geest'' in the name refers to the Geest, geest lands, which were excavated in the seventeent ...

are named after him.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* Kees Kalkman, ''C. G. G. J. van Steenis (1901–1986)'' in Taxon, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Nov. 1986), pp. 937–938 * Charles H. Smith,
Steenis, Gijsbert Gerrit Jan Cornelis "Kees" of (Netherlands 1901-1986), phytogeography, floristics tics, conservation
2005

at the National Herbarium of the Netherlands
''Van Steenis, Kees'' (1901–1986)
ASBS Newsletter No. 47, June 1986 {{DEFAULTSORT:Steenis, Cornelis Gijsbert Gerrit Jan van 20th-century Dutch explorers 20th-century Dutch botanists 1901 births 1986 deaths Explorers of Asia Academic staff of Leiden University Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Scientists from Utrecht (city) Utrecht University alumni