John Dransfield (born 1945) is an honorary
research fellow and former head of palm research at the
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom, as well as being an authority on the
phylogenetic classification
Phylogenetic nomenclature is a method of nomenclature for taxa in biology that uses phylogenetic definitions for taxon names as explained below. This contrasts with the traditional approach, in which taxon names are defined by a ''type'', which ...
of
palms.
Dransfield has written or contributed to several books on palms, notably both the first and second editions of ''
Genera Palmarum''. The first edition was the standard reference for palm evolution and classification and the second edition, expanding on the original, is expected to achieve that same benchmark.
He studied at the University of Cambridge, B.A.(1967), M.A. (1970) and Ph.D. (1970) before working at Kew Gardens.
In 2004, Dransfield was awarded the
Linnean Medal
The Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London was established in 1888, and is awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist or (as has been common since 1958) to one of each in the same year. The medal was of gold until 1976, and ...
, an annual award given by the
Linnean Society of London.
The genus ''
Dransfieldia
''Dransfieldia'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family from western New Guinea where the lone species ''Dransfieldia micrantha'' grows in dense rain forest. Discovered in 1872, 134 years passed before DNA testing revealed it ...
'' was named for him, as was the species ''
Adonidia dransfieldii
''Adonidia dransfieldii'' is a species of ''Adonidia'' palm native to Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia. It grows up to in height.
It is very similar in appearance to the much more common ''Adonidia merrillii'' with the chief visual differences being a s ...
''.
He married Dr Soejatmi Dransfield (née Soejatmi Soenarko) in Malaysia (1977).
Selected works
*''The typification of Linnean palms.'' International Bureau for Plant Taxonomy and Nomenclature, 1979.
*''A manual of the rattans of the Malay Peninsula.'' By John Dransfield. Forest Dept., Ministry of Primary Industries, Malaysia, 1979.
*''The rattans of Sabah.'' By John Dransfield. Forest Dept. Sabah, 1984.
*''Palmae.'' By John Dransfield. Published on behalf of the East African Governments by Balkema, 1986.
*''Genera Palmarum: a classification of palms based on the work of Harold E. Moore, Jr.'' By
Harold E. Moore,
and John Dransfield. L.H. Bailey Hortorium, 1987.
*''The palms of the New World: a conservation census.'' By John Dransfield, Dennis Victor Johnson and Hugh Synge. IUCN, 1988.
*''The rattans of Sarawak.'' By John Dransfield. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 1992.
*''The palms of Madagascar.'' By John Dransfield and Henk Beentje. Royal Botanic Gardens and the International Palm Society, 1995.
*''Priority species of bamboo and rattan.'' Edited by A. N. Rao, V. Ramanatha Rao, and J.T. Williams. Bioversity International, 1998.
*''Corybas west of Wallace's Line.'' By John Dransfield. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2000.
*''World checklist of palms.'' By Rafaël Govaerts and John Dransfield. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2005.
*''Field guide to the palms of Madagascar.'' By John Dransfield. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2006.
*''Field guide to the palms of New Guinea.'' By William J. Baker and John Dransfield. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2006.
*''Genera Palmarum: the evolution and classification of palms.'' By John Dransfield and
. Kew Pub., 2008.
Received the 2009 Annual Literature Award of the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries.
[
* , in
*''Beyond Genera Palmarum: progress and prospects in palm systematics '' By William J. Baker & J Dransfield. 2016. Oxford Academy, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society,2016, 182, 207–233 ]
See also
* Harold E. Moore
* Natalie Whitford Uhl
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dransfield, John
British botanists
1945 births
Linnean Medallists
Place of birth missing (living people)
Living people
20th-century births
Botanists active in Kew Gardens