George Henry Kendrick Thwaites (9 July 1812, Bristol – 11 September 1882,

Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills ...

) was an English

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

. Thwaites was initially an accountant and studied botany during his spare time. He was interested particularly in the lower plants such as the

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

and the

cryptogam A cryptogam (scientific name Cryptogamae) is a plant (in the wide sense of the word) or a plant-like organism that reproduces by spores, without flowers or seeds. The name ''Cryptogamae'' () means "hidden reproduction", referring to the fact ...

s. He became a recognised botanist when he showed that the

diatom A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group comprising sev ...

s are not animals, but algae. In 1846 he was lecturer on botany at the Bristol school of pharmacy and afterwards at the medical school. In March 1849, on the death of George Gardner, Thwaites was appointed superintendent of the

botanical gardens A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

Peradeniya Peradeniya ( si, පේරාදෙණිය, translit=Pēradeniya; ta, பேராதனை, translit=Pērātaṉai) is a suburb of the city of Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a m ...

, Ceylon. A position he held for thirty years, until he resigned in 1879. He was made a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

on 1 June 1865 following the publication of his ''Enumeratio Plantarum Zeylaniæ'', – (five fasciculi 1859–64). His notes form the most valuable portion of

Frederic Moore Frederic Moore FZS (13 May 1830 – 10 May 1907) was a British entomologist and illustrator. He produced six volumes of ''Lepidoptera Indica'' and a catalogue of the birds in the collection of the East India Company. It has been said that Mo ...

's ''Lepidoptera of Ceylon'' (3 vols 1880–1889). He established the Cinchona nurseries, Hakgala, Ceylon and was in the board of directors of the Alfred Model Farm Experimental Station that later became the Royal Colombo Golf Course.

Legacy

The flowering plant genus '' Kendrickia'' (from India and Sri Lanka), and the spider genus ''

Thwaitesia ''Thwaitesia'' is a genus of comb-footed spiders that was first described by Octavius Pickard-Cambridge in 1881. ''T. affinis'' females are long, and males are long. ''T. bracteata'' are about the same size. They are similar in appearance to m ...

'' are named after him. Also, a species of Sri Lankan lizard, '' Chalcidoseps thwaitesi'',Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Thwaites", p. 265). and a butterfly ''

Tapena thwaitesi ''Tapena thwaitesi'',Marrku Savela's Website on Lepidoptera. Page on genu the black angle, is a species of butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae found in Indomalayan realm.TOL web page ogenus ''Tapena thwaitesi''/ref> The species was desc ...

'', are named in his honor.

References

External links

*
Royal Society Library and Archive Catalog

Enumeratio Plantarum Zeylaniae
1812 births 1882 deaths Scientists from Bristol 19th-century British botanists English entomologists People from Kandy Sri Lankan people of English descent Sri Lankan botanists People of British Ceylon Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Sri Lankan environmentalists {{entomologist-stub