Bernard Verdcourt (20 January 1925 – 25 October 2011) was a

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

and

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the science, scientific study of naming, defining (Circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxon, taxa (si ...

, most widely known as a

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 ...

and latterly an honorary research fellow at the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

in London. Prior to coming to Kew in 1964, he was associated with the East African Herbarium for 15 years. Although his best-known work probably consists of his many studies of the East African

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

, he has also made extensive contributions relating to African terrestrial

mollusks Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The num ...

and to

entomology Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

. Dr. Verdcourt received the Linnean Medal for botany from the

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

in 2000.Award to Bernard Vercourt. Kew Scientist: Apr 2000(17):4. Kew Gardenshttp://www.linnean.org/index.php?id=347 Linnean Society of London His list of publications includes more than 1,000

scientific works Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

Eponymy

In 2012, botanists H.Ohashi & K.Ohashi published '' Verdesmum'' is a

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

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 Malaysia belonging to the family

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

, it was named in Bernard Verdcourt's honour. In Rubiaceae, the names '' Chlorochorion'' Robbr. & Puff and '' Tricalysia verdcourtiana'' Robbr. are dedicated to him.

Selected major works

* Verdcourt, B. (1951–1957). ''Notes on the snails of north-east

Tanganyika Territory Tanganyika was a colonial territory in East Africa which was administered by the United Kingdom in various forms from 1916 until 1961. It was initially administered under military occupation. From 20 July 1922, it was formalised into a League o ...

''. ight parts* Verdcourt, B. et al. (1956–1995). ''

Flora of Tropical East Africa The ''Flora of Tropical East Africa'' (FTEA) is a catalogue of all 12,104 known wild plant species in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. The project began in 1948 and was finally completed in September 2012. Approximately 1,500 new plant species were de ...

''. Kew Bulletin and other publications.

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

] * Verdcourt B. (1958) Remarks on the classification of the Rubiaceae. Bull. Jard. Bot. Etat, Brux. 28: 209–281. * Verdcourt, B. et al. (2001–2005). ''

''. Rotterdam: Balkema. ccounts of 12 families

References

1925 births 2011 deaths Botanists active in Kew Gardens British botanists British entomologists English taxonomists British malacologists {{UK-botanist-stub