Timothy Charles Plowman (November 17, 1944 – January 7, 1989) was an American

ethnobotanist Ethnobotany is an interdisciplinary field at the interface of natural and social sciences that studies the relationships between humans and plants. It focuses on traditional knowledge of how plants are used, managed, and perceived in human societi ...

best known for his intensive work over the course of 15 years on the genus ''

Erythroxylum ''Erythroxylum'' is a genus of tropical flowering plants in the family Erythroxylaceae. Many of the approximately 200 species contain the tropane alkaloid cocaine,Bieri S, Brachet A, Veuthey J, Christen P. Cocaine distribution in wild Erythroxyl ...

'' in general, and the cultivated

coca Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. Coca leaves contain cocaine which acts as a mild stimulant when chewed or ...

species in particular. He collected more than 700 specimens from South America, housed in the collection of the

Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educationa ...

. Plowman joined the

in 1978 where he became tenured in 1983 and was appointed Curator in 1988. He published more than 80 scientific papers (46 on ''

'') and served as editor for several scientific journals. He is one of the main subjects of ''One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest'' by Wade Davis. Both were students of

Richard Evans Schultes Richard Evans Schultes (''SHULL-tees'';Jonathan Kandell ''The New York Times'', April 13, 2001, Accessed April 26, 2020. January 12, 1915 – April 10, 2001) was an American biologist, considered to be the father of modern ethnobotany. He is kno ...

, the father of modern ethnobotany. Plowman died of

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

, which he contracted from pre-trip inoculations. The

nightshade Solanaceae (), commonly known as the nightshades, is a family of flowering plants in the order Solanales. It contains approximately 2,700 species, several of which are used as agricultural crops, medicinal plants, and ornamental plants. Many me ...

species '' Brunfelsia plowmaniana'' is named after him, as also is the monotypic genus '' Plowmania''. The single species, '' Plowmania nyctaginoides'' (Standl.) Hunz. & Subils is closely related to ''Brunfelsia'', but differs from it most notably in the large and brilliant orange-red flowers (reminiscent of those of the better-known ornamental '' Ipomoea coccinea'') that have earned it well-deserved place in U.S. horticulture. Also in 2004, botanists Faden & C.R.Hardy published '' Plowmanianthus'', a genus of plants with 5 species and 2 subspecies in the family

Commelinaceae Commelinaceae is a family of flowering plants. In less formal contexts, the group is referred to as the dayflower family or spiderwort family. It is one of five families in the order Commelinales and by far the largest of these with about 731 kn ...

(the spiderwort and dayflower family). In 2008,

Thomas Croat Thomas Bernard Croat (born 23 May 1938 in St. Marys, Iowa) is an American botanist and plant collector, noteworthy as one of botanical history's "most prolific plant collectors". He has collected and described numerous species of plants, particula ...

named a species of ''

Anthurium ''Anthurium'' (; Schott, 1829) is a genus of about 1,000Mantovani, A. and T. E. Pereira. (2005)''Anthurium'' (section ''Urospadix''; subsection ''Flavescentiviridia'').''Rodriguesia'' 56(88), 145–60. species of flowering plants, the largest g ...

'' in honor of Plowman, ''A. timplowmanii''.Croat, Thomas B. 2008 . Novon 18(2): 161, f. 8C, D, 9A, B, 10.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plowman, Timothy 1944 births 1989 deaths Ethnobiologists American ethnobotanists Botanists active in South America Psychedelic drug researchers Cornell University alumni Harvard University alumni 20th-century American botanists AIDS-related deaths in the United States