Julian Alfred Steyermark (January 27, 1909 – October 15, 1988) was a Venezuelan American botanist. His focus was onNew World vegetation, and he specialized in the familyRubiaceae.[1]
Julian Alfred Steyermark was born inSt. Louis,Missouri as the only child of the businessman Leo L. Steyermark and Mamie I. Steyermark (née Isaacs).[2] He studied at the Henry Shaw School of Botany atWashington University in St. Louis, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1933. His distinguished career included the Field Museum of Chicago, theInstituto Botánico of Caracas, and he was with theMissouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis from 1984 until his death. Steyermark's major works were hisFlora of the Venezuelan Guayana,Flora of Missouri, and hisFlora of Guatemala.
During his life, Steyermarkcollected over 130,000 plants in twenty-six countries, which earned him an entry in theGuinness Book of World Records.[3] He made the initial descriptions of 2,392 taxa of plants, including one family, 38 genera, and 1,864 species.[3]
^Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011).The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp.ISBN978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Steyermark", p. 254).
