Ihsan Ali Al-Shehbaz (born 1939 in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

) is an American botanist who works as adjunct professor at University of Missouri-St. Louis and Senior Curator at

Missouri Botanical Garden The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 4344 Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also known informally as Shaw's Garden for founder and philanthropist Henry Shaw. Its herbarium, with more than 6.6 million ...

.
2008 Missouri Botanical Garden Al-Shehbaz's primary area of interest is

Brassicaceae Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The leav ...

and ''

The Durango Herald ''The Durango Herald'' is a newspaper in Durango, Colorado. The first edition of the ''Herald'' came out June 30, 1881. Two years later, the ''Herald'' merged with the ''Record'', which had started publishing in 1880, seven months before the '' ...

'' called him "a world expert on taxonomy of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

".
''The Durango Herald'' "Botanists discover 2 plant species (March 6, 2008) A 2008 publication of the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

called him "the world's authority on

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

'' Lesquerella''".
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Missouri Bladderpod 5-Year Review (2008) The Author citation (botany), author abbreviation "Al-Shehbaz" is attached to the numerous botanical

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

he has identified.
Author attributions for Southern California plant names

Education

In 1962, Al-Shehbaz earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree from

Baghdad University The University of Baghdad (UOB) ( ar, جامعة بغداد ''Jāmi'at Baghdād'') is the largest university in Iraq, tenth largest in the Arab world, and the largest university in the Arab world outside Egypt. Nomenclature Both University ...

. He pursued

graduate studies Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. The organization and stru ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, gaining a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1969 and a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1973.
Biography at efloras.org

Career

Prior to his current professorial and curatorial position, Al-Shehbaz was a professor and director of an herbarium at

, a professor and director of a herbarium at Sulaymaniyah University in Iraq, and a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum. In 1992, Al-Shehbaz edited all botanical entries for the third edition of the

American Heritage Dictionary American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

. He has worked on major projects about the '' Flora of North America'' and, with the help of the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

botanists, the ''

Flora of China The flora of China consists of a diverse range of plant species including over 39,000 vascular plants, 27,000 species of fungi and 3000 species of bryophytes.Wu, Z. Y., P. H. Raven & D. Y. Hong, eds. 2006. Flora of China. Vol. 22 (Poaceae). S ...

''.
Flora of China Project (harvard.edu)
MBG Research: The Unseen Garden
Flora of North America (harvard.edu) In regard to the latter, Al-Shehbaz said:

By unlocking the knowledge of China's great botanical treasures for the rest of the world, the project brings together hundreds of Chinese and Western scientists for an invaluable exchange of ideas, training, information, and plant specimens. It is an enormous advancement for systematic and applied botany ... China's plant species represent a significant percentage of the world's total. If we don't do this kind of research, how will we know what we have and how to protect it?

Academic specialties

Al-Shehbaz's primary academic interests are the

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spe ...

and systematics of the

Brassicaceae, especially in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

, and

the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

with emphasis on the

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

n and

members. He also has an interest in conservation and the preservation of biological diversity. According to Al-Shehbaz, if "we want to have a peaceful world, to live in harmony, we have to know how to cooperate, both with humans and with other species." Al-Shehbaz has described ten new genera previously unknown to science. He has described over four hundred plant

and more than seventy of them were previously unknown. Al-Shehbaz has called botanical science "a race with time to document what's there before it's gone." ''

Alyssum ''Alyssum'' is a genus of over a hundred species of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, native to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region. The genus comprises annual and perenni ...

'', '' Arabidopsis'', ''

Arabis ''Arabis'' ,''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 or rockcress, is a genus of flowering plants, within the family Brassicaceae. Description The species are herbaceous, annual or perennial plants, growing to 10–80 cm tall, usua ...

'', '' Armoracia'', ''

Barbarea ''Barbarea'' (winter cress or yellow rocket) is a genus of about 22 species of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in southern Europe and southwes ...

'', ''

Boechera ''Boechera'' (rockcress) is a genus of the family Brassicaceae. It was named after the Danish botanist Tyge W. Böcher (1909–1983), who was known for his research in alpine plants, including the mustards ''Draba'' and ''Boechera holboellii''. ...

'', ''

Draba ''Draba'' is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, commonly known as whitlow-grasses (though they are not related to the true grasses). Species There are over 400 species: *'' Draba abajoensis'' Windham & Al-Shehbaz *'' ...

'' (of which he revised many South American members), '' Erucastrum'', '' Nasturtium'', ''

Raphanus ''Raphanus'' (Latin for "radish") is a genus within the flowering plant family Brassicaceae. Carl Linnaeus described three species within the genus: the cultivated radish (''Raphanus sativus''), the wild radish or jointed charlock (''Raphanus ra ...

'', ''

Rorippa ''Rorippa'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, native to Europe through central Asia, Africa, and North America. ''Rorippa'' species are annual to perennial herbs, usually with yellow flowers and a peppery flavour. They a ...

'', '' Schizopetalon'', ''

Sisymbrium ''Sisymbrium'' is a genus of plants in the family Brassicaceae. Selected species * '' Sisymbrium altissimum'' – Jim Hill mustard, tall rocket, tall tumblemustard * '' Sisymbrium crassifolium'' * '' Sisymbrium erysimoides'' * '' Sisymbrium ...

'', and '' Tropidocarpum'' are among the genera in which he has identified plant species. Some specific plant species Al-Shehbaz has identified include '' Cardamine lojanensis'', '' Draba ecuadoriana'', and '' Draba steyermarkii''.

Selected bibliography

*Al-Shehbaz, I. A. 2006. The genus ''Sisymbrium'' in South America, with synopses of the genera'' Chilocardamum'', ''Mostacillastrum'', ''Neuontobotrys'', and ''Polypsecadium'' (Brassicaceae). Darwiniana 44: 341–358. *Warwick, S. I., A. Francis & I. A. Al-Shehbaz. 2006. Brassicaceae: species checklist and database on CD-Rom. Pl. Syst. Evol. 259: 249–258. *Warwick, S. I. & I. A. Al-Shehbaz. 2006. Brassicaceae: chromosome number index and database on CD-Rom. Pl. Syst. Evol. 259: 237–248. *Al-Shehbaz, I. A., M. A. Beilstein & E. A. Kellogg. 2006. Systematics and phylogeny of the Brassicaceae: an overview. Pl. Syst. Evol. 259: 89–120. *Beilstein, M., I. A. Al-Shehbaz & E. A. Kellogg. 2006. Brassicaceae phylogeny and trichome evolution. Am. J. Bot. 93: 607–619. *Mitchell-Olds, T., I. A. Al-Shehbaz, M. Koch & T. F. Sharbel. 2005. Crucifer evolution in the post-genomic era. Pp. 119–137 in R. J. Henry, ed., Plant Diversity and Evolution: Genotypic and Phenotypic Variation in Higher Plants. CAB International. *O'Kane, S. L., Jr. & I. A. Al-Shehbaz. 2003. Phylogenetic position and generic limits of ''Arabidopsis'' (Brassicaceae) based on sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 90: 603–612. * Al-Shehbaz, I. A. 2003. Transfer of most North American species of ''Arabis'' to ''Boechera'' (Brassicaceae). Novon 13: 381–391. *Koch, M., I. A. Al-Shehbaz & K. Mummenhoff. 2003. Molecular systematics, evolution, and population biology in the mustard family (Brassicaceae). Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 90: 151–171. *Appel, O. & I. A. Al-Shehbaz. 2003. Cruciferae. ''In'': K. Kubitzki (editor), Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. 5: 75–174. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shehbaz, Ihsan Ali Iraqi scientists 1939 births Living people Botanists active in North America Botanists with author abbreviations Arnold Arboretum Missouri Botanical Garden people Brassicaceae University of Baghdad alumni Harvard University alumni University of Missouri–St. Louis people Iraqi emigrants to the United States 20th-century American botanists 21st-century American botanists