Charles Louis Gilly (1911-1970) was an American botanist who was an expert in the flora of Central and South America. He, alongside

Wendell Holmes Camp Wendell Holmes "Red" Camp (February 22, 1904 – February 4, 1963) was an American botanist, explorer, taxonomist, educator, and expert of the genus ''Vaccinium''. Career Camp earned his B.Sc. in geology from Otterbein College in 1925. He att ...

, coined the term

biosystematics Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the Correlation and dependence, relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: c ...

. Gilly was born in

Fairfield, Iowa Fairfield is a city in, and the county seat of, Jefferson County, Iowa. It has a population of 9,416 people, according to the 2020 census. The median family income is $46,138, with 10% of families below the poverty line. The city is typical ...

. While employed at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

, he collected botanical specimens in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, Guatemala, and

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

. He also studied the taxonomy of teosinte. His collections in Mexico were considerable, and he often collected with . After achieving his doctorate, he worked as professor and herbarium curator at

Michigan State College Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

until 1954. In 1970, he died in

Traverse City, Michigan Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population wa ...

References

American botanists People from Fairfield, Iowa Iowa State University faculty 1911 births 1970 deaths {{botanist-stub