Ira Waddell Clokey (1878-1950) was an

American 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, pe ...

mining engineer and

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 ...

active in the western

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 territorie ...

. He first studied at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, then moved to

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 higher le ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in mining engineering in 1903. From 1904 to 1915, Clokey worked as a mining engineer in Mexico. In his spare time he collected plant specimens for his personal

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

, which, however, was almost completely destroyed during a fire in 1912. In 1921, Clokey completed a Master of Science in

plant pathology Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungus, fung ...

from

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 n ...

. Clokey began intensive studies of the flora of the Charleston Mountains in southern

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

in 1935. At the same time he started to edit and distribute the

exsiccata Exsiccata (Latin, ''gen.'' -ae, ''plur.'' -ae) is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae refer to numbered collections of dried herbarium specimens respectivel ...

-like specimen series ''Charleston Mountain Flora, Clark County, Nevada''. His book, ''Flora of the Charleston Mountains, Clark County, Nevada'' was accepted for publication just prior to his death in 1950. The International Plant Names Index lists 44 plant names published by Ira Waddell Clokey.

List of plants named after him

A number of plants have been named in his honor: * ''Allium howellii'' var. ''clokeyi'' Ownbey & Aase, 1972 * ''Astragalus oophorus'' var. ''clokeyanus'' Barneby, 1954 *''Castilleja clokeyi'' Pennell, 1938 (= ''Castilleja applegatei'' subsp. ''martinii'' (Abrams) T.I.Chuang & Heckard, 1992 *''Cirsium clokeyi'' S.F.Blake, 1938 (= ''Cirsium eatonii'' var. ''clokeyi'' (S.F.Blake) D.J.Keil, 2004) *''Cryptantha clokeyi'' I.M.Johnst., 1939 (= ''Cryptantha muricata'' var. ''clokeyi'' (I.M.Johnst.) Jeps., 1943) *''Ephedra clokeyi'' H.C.Cutler, 1939 (='' ''Ephedra fasciculata'' var. ''clokeyi'''' A.Nelson 1945) *'' Erigeron clokeyi'' Cronquist, 1947 * ''Eriogonum heermannii'' var. ''clokeyi'' Reveal, 1976 *''Forsellesia clokeyi'' Ensign, 1942 (=''

Glossopetalon clokeyi ''Glossopetalon clokeyi'', known as Clokey's greasebush is a species of flowering plant native to western North America. Distribution and habitat Clokey's greasebush is a rare species, endemic to the Spring Mountains The Spring Mountains a ...

'' (Ensign) H.St.John, 1942) *''

Gilia clokeyi ''Gilia clokeyi'' is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name Clokey's gilia. It is native to the south-western United States from California to Colorado, where it grows in desert and other habitat. The herb pro ...

'' H.Mason, 1942 * ''Lupinus breweri'' var. ''clokeyanus'' C.P.Sm., 1940 *''Lupinus clokeyanus'' C.P.Sm., 1944 (= ''Lupinus argenteus'' var. ''palmeri'' (S.Watson) Barneby, 1986 *''Mertensia clokeyi'' Osterh., 1919 (= ''Mertensia lanceolata'' var. ''secundorum'' (Cockerell) Cockerell 1918) * ''Salvia dorrii'' var. ''clokeyi'' Strachan, 1982 *'' Silene clokeyi'' C.L.Hitchc. & Maguire, 1947 *'' Solanum clokeyi'' Munz, 1932

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clokey, Ira Waddel 1878 births 1950 deaths Botanists active in North America 20th-century American botanists University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Iowa State University alumni Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences alumni