From Plant Press, Vol. 7, No. 3 from July 2004.
David Mabberley of the University of Leiden, The Netherlands, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, received the Cuatrecasas Medal at the 4th Annual Smithsonian Botanical Symposium. The medal is in honor of José Cuatrecasas, a pioneering botanist and taxonomist who spent nearly a half-century working in Botany at the Smithsonian Institution. Cuatrecasas’ research, especially in the flowering plant family Asteraceae, was devoted to the classification, biogeography, exploration, and ecology of plants of the paramo and subparamo regions of Andean South America. Out of enduring respect and admiration, the José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany was established. This medal is presented annually to a botanist and scholar of international stature who has contributed significantly to advancing the field of tropical botany. The award serves to keep vibrant the accomplishments and memory of this outstanding scientist.
The recipient of the Cuatrecasas Medal is selected by a committee made up of botanists on the staff at the National Museum of Natural History, in consultation with other local plant scientists in the Washington area. This year the Committee was composed of Laurence Dorr (Chair), Pedro Acevedo, Alan Whittemore, and Pat Herendeen. Nominations for the Medal are accepted from all scientists in Botany at the Museum. The award consists of a bronze medal bearing an image of José Cuatrecasas on the front with the recipient’s name and date of presentation on the back.
The selection committee was impressed by the many important contributions that Mabberley has made to tropical botany over his long and distinguished career. These contributions include a revision of the tropical genus Chisocheton (Meliaceae) (1979), the book entitled Tropical Rainforest Ecology (1983, 1992), a monograph of Melia in Asia and the Pacific (1984), numerous articles on pachycaul trees in Africa (and elsewhere), a treatment of Meliaceae for Flora Malesiana (1995), and a revision of Malagasy Grewia (1999). In addition, while not strictly speaking a contribution to tropical botany, Mabberley’s The Plant-Book is seen as an invaluable aid to those studying tropical plants.
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