Lloyd Herbert Shinners (September 22, 1918 – February 16, 1971) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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 ...

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 professor, known as an expert on the flora of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Early life

Shinners was born in

Bluesky, Alberta Bluesky is a hamlet in Alberta, Canada within the Municipal District of Fairview No. 136. It is located along Highway 2, east of Fairview in northern Alberta. Heavy oil was discovered in a well east of the hamlet in 1952, in a geological forma ...

on September 22, 1918. His family moved to

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

when he was five, and he went on to graduate valedictorian from Lincoln High School. He continued his education at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

, where he earned a Ph.D. under Norman Carter Fassett in 1943. He worked for the town of Milwaukee before moving to

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

in 1945.

Career

Shinners worked for the

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

as a research assistant, before being placed in charge of the university's herbarium. In 1960, he attained a full professorship. Through his guidance, the herbarium grew from 20,000 specimens to over 340,000. He was specifically interested in the

Compositae 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 ...

Publications

Shinners authored 274 articles, and published a comprehensive 514 page

Flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

of north-central Texas.

Eponyms

Shinners was the namesake of one genus, '' Shinnersia'', and more than 15 species, including: *''

Thelypodiopsis shinnersii ''Thelypodiopsis'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Brassicaceae. Its native range is Western Central and Southern Central USA to Northeastern Mexico. Species: *''Thelypodiopsis ambigua'' *''Thelypodiopsis aurea'' *''Th ...

'' (M.C.Johnst.) Rollins *''

Ipomoea shinnersii ''Ipomoea'' () is the largest genus in the plant family Convolvulaceae, with over 600 species. It is a large and diverse group, with common names including morning glory, water convolvulus or water spinach, sweet potato, bindweed, moonflo ...

'' D.F.Austin *''

Carex shinnersii ''Carex shinnersii'' is a species of sedge described in 2001. It is native to North America, found in Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. The species is named for Lloyd Herbert Shinners Lloyd Herbert Shinners (September 22, 1918 – Febru ...

'' P.Rothr. & Reznicek''Novon'' 11 (2): 225. 2001 (IK)

Legacy

Shinner's library of botanical books and collection of plant specimens formed the initial collections of the

Botanical Research Institute of Texas The Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) is a botanical research institute located in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It was established in 1987 for the herbarium and botanical library collections of Lloyd H. Shinners from Southern Meth ...

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

when it was founded in 1987.

Early life

Career

Publications

Eponyms

Legacy

References

Further reading