Jose Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany was initiated in 2001 by the

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7. ...

, USA. It is named after

José Cuatrecasas José Cuatrecasas (1903–1996) was a Spanish botany, botanist. He was born on March 19, 1903, in Camprodon, Catalonia, Spain. His research focused on the high-elevation páramo and sub-páramo regions of the Andes Mountains in South America, e ...

, a pioneering botanist and taxonomist who worked on the flora of tropical South America. It is awarded annually to a scientist who has made a very significant contribution to advancing the field of tropical botany. Nominations for the award can be made by all in the Botany Department at the museum. The award is a bronze medal with an image of José Cuatrecasas on one side and the awardee's name and date of presentation on the other. The awardees are:
2001:

Rogers McVaugh Rogers McVaugh (May 30, 1909 – September 24, 2009) was a research professor of botany and the UNC Herbarium's curator of Mexican plants. He was also Adjunct Research Scientist of the Hunt Institute in Carnegie Mellon University and a Prof ...

a taxonomist of tropical and temperate species particularly Lobeliaceae and

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All speci ...

, author of tropical floras for Panama, Guatemala, the Guyana Highlands and Mexico, and biographies of several botanists.
2002: P. Barry Tomlinson specialist in anatomy, morphology and tropical botany, author of books on mangroves, tropical trees, the anatomy of monocotyledons and with inspirational commitment to teaching students about the tropics.
2003: John Beaman long-time curator of the Michigan State University Herbarium, and especially for his work on the floras of Mexico and northern Borneo and the taxonomy Asteraceae.
2004:

David John Mabberley Professor David John Mabberley , (born May 1948) is a British-born botanist, educator and writer. Among his varied scientific interests is the taxonomy of tropical plants, especially trees of the families Labiatae, Meliaceae and Rutaceae. He i ...

for his work with the tropical genera Chisocheton (

Meliaceae Meliaceae, the mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs (and a few herbaceous plants, mangroves) in the order Sapindales. They are characterised by alternate, usually pinnate leaves without stipules, and by syncarp ...

) and

Grewia ''Grewia'' is a large flowering plant genus in the mallow family Malvaceae, in the expanded sense as proposed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. Formerly, Grewia was placed in either the family Tiliaceae or the Sparrmanniaceae. However, these ...

, on

pachycaul Pachycauls are plants with a disproportionately thick Trunk (botany), trunk for their height, and few branches. This can be the product of exceptional primary growth (as with Arecaceae, palms and cycads) or disproportioate secondary growth as with ...

trees and his authorship of several important books.
2005: Joint award to

Jerzy Rzedowski Jerzy Rzedowski Rotter (born December 27, 1926) is a Mexican botanist. His focus is on Mexican floristics, taxonomy, and ecology. Education and personal life He was born in Lwów, Poland (now in Ukraine) to Arnold and Ernestyna (nee Rotter) Rzed ...

and Graciela Calderón de Rzedowski for both their individual and joint contributions to tropical botany, especially of Mexico, including their regional floras and work on the genus

Bursera ''Bursera'' is a genus with about 100 described species of flowering shrubs and trees varying in size up to high. It is the type genus for Burseraceae. The trees are native (often for many species endemic) to the Americas, from the southern Uni ...

(

Burseraceae The Burseraceae are a moderate-sized family of 17-19 genera and about 540 species of flowering plants. The actual numbers differ according to the time period in which a given source is written describing this family. The Burseraceae are also know ...

).
2006:

Sherwin Carlquist Sherwin John Carlquist FMLS (July 7, 1930 - December 1, 2021) was an American botanist and photographer. Education He received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1952 and a Ph.D. in botany in 1956, also at ...

, a wood anatomist especially of tropical angiosperm families who also worked on evolution of plants on islands.
2007: No award
2008: Mireya Correa, Director of the Herbarium of the University of Panama, for work on plant systematics, especially the flora of Panama, an educator and administrator.
2009: Norris H. Williams for his work on neotropical

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

that includes molecular phylogenetics, the chemistry of floral fragrances, and pollination biology that has advanced understanding of orchid evolution and insect pollinators.
2010: Beryl B. Simpson for work on the phylogeny and biogeography of several angiosperm groups (especially

Krameriaceae ''Krameria'' is the only genus in the Krameriaceae family, of which any of the approximately 18 species are commonly known as rhatany, ratany or rattany. Rhatany is also the name given to krameria root, a botanical remedy consisting of the dried ...

Polylepis ''Polylepis'' is a genus comprising 28 recognised shrub and tree species, that are endemic to the mid- and high-elevation regions of the tropical Andes. This group is unique in the rose family in that it is predominantly wind-pollinated. They are ...

(

Rosaceae Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus ''Rosa''. Among the most species-rich genera are ''Alchemilla'' (270), ''Sorbus ...

) and Perezia (

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

)), primarily from the American Southwest, Mexico, and Central and South America.
2011: No award
2012: Walter S Judd for his research, field work, and teaching, especially his work with the

Ericaceae The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c.4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it th ...

Melastomataceae Melastomataceae is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants found mostly in the tropics (two-thirds of the genera are from the New World tropics) comprising c. 175 genera and c. 5115 known species. Melastomes are annual or perennial herbs, sh ...

, and Miconeae. Along with co-authors he has written ''Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach'', one of the most widely used university-level text books in phylogenetics.
2013: Ana Maria Giulietti Harley for her research and field work especially of

Eriocaulaceae The Eriocaulaceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the order Poales, commonly known as the pipewort family. The family is large, with about 1207 known species described in seven genera. They are widely distributed, with the ce ...

and the flora of Brazil.
2014: H. Peter Linder for contributions to the systematics, biogeography, and evolution of

Restionaceae The Restionaceae, also called restiads and restios, are a family (biology), family of flowering plants native to the Southern Hemisphere; they vary from a few centimeters to 3 meters in height. Following the APG IV system, APG IV (2016): the fami ...

, and

Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

as well as work on identifying biogeographical patterns in the Southern Hemisphere and especially in Africa.
2015: Paulo Günter Windisch for his work on systematics, biogeography, and evolution of neotropical

pteridophytes A pteridophyte is a vascular plant (with xylem and phloem) that disperses spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are sometimes referred to as "cryptogams", meaning that their means of reproduction is hidden. Ferns, ...

, and also for educating and mentoring university students in Brazil.
2016: Kamaljit S Bawa for his work on tropical biology and international conservation, especially reproductive ecology and population genetics in both the Old and New World tropics. He is the founder of the

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) is a research institution founded by Kamaljit S. Bawa based in Bangalore, India focusing in the areas of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. The trust works to ...

.
2017: Robin B. Foster for work on cataloging the flora of

Barro Colorado Island Barro Colorado Island is located in the man-made Gatun Lake in the middle of the Panama Canal. The island was formed when the waters of the Chagres River were dammed to form the lake in 1913. When the waters rose, they covered a significant part ...

in Panama and then developing the first of a network of tropical forest dynamics plots that has advanced study of tropical ecosystems and theories for their function and high biodiversity.
2018: Alan K. Graham for his work on understanding the origins and history of neotropical floras that has made particular use of

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...

and microfossils.
2019: Sandra D Knapp tropical botanist and educator, advocate for conserving biodiversity, floristics, collections, the relationships between plants and people and particularly for her work with the

Solanaceae The Solanaceae , or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and orn ...

.
2020:
2021:

Sebsebe Demissew Sebsebe Demissew (born June 14, 1953) is a Professor of Systematics, Plant Systematics and Biodiversity at Addis Ababa University and Executive Director of the Gullele Botanic Garden in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Education Demissew was educated at A ...

for his life's work in conserving and recording the very diverse Ethiopian flora with many

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

species, and leadership of the Ethiopian Flora Project and the National Herbarium.
2022: Fabián A. Michelangeli for research on the systematics and taxonomy of

, ant-plant interactions and the floristics of the

Guayana Highlands Guyana is a country in the Guianas, South America. Guyana, Guiana, or Guayana may refer to: * French Guiana, an overseas department of France in the Guianas * The Guianas, a region in the north of South America * Guayana Region, an administrative ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany Academy S