Philip Alexander Munz (1892–1974) was an American

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 ...

plant taxonomist Plant taxonomy is the science that finds, identifies, describes, classifies, and names plants. It is one of the main branches of taxonomy (the science that finds, describes, classifies, and names living things). Plant taxonomy is closely allied ...

and educator who worked at the

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden The California Botanic Garden (formerly the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden) is a botanical garden in Claremont, California, in the United States, just south of the San Gabriel foothills. The garden, at , is the largest botanic garden in the sta ...

and was a professor of botany at

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

, serving as dean there for three years. In 1935 Munz published his ''Manual of Southern California Botany''. Munz compiled the voluminous '' A California Flora'' with

David D. Keck David Daniels Keck (October 24, 1903 – March 10, 1995) was an American botanist who was notable for his work on angiosperm taxonomy and genetics. Keck was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He completed undergraduate studies at Pomona College in 1925 ...

, published by the

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

in 1959, and with a supplement published in 1968. Munz published ''A California Flora'' without any research support and with a relatively small subvention for publication from the University of California Press. In 1974, his book ''A Flora of Southern California'' was published posthumously, with the botanical families presented in an alphabetical order.

List of selected publications

Munz authored four popular plant guides for general readers interested in botany but untrained in

plant taxonomy Plant taxonomy is the science that finds, identifies, describes, classifies, and names plants. It is one of the main branches of taxonomy (the science that finds, describes, classifies, and names living things). Plant taxonomy is closely allied ...

, published by the University of California Press, and referred to as the ''California Wildflower Books'': * * * * * * * * *

Honours

Several plants have been named after him including; '' Salvia munzii'' Epling, ''Cereus munzii'' Parish (= ''Echinocereus munzii'' (Parish) L.D. Benson), '' Iris munzii'' R.C. Foster, '' Layia munzii'' D.D. Keck, '' Opuntia munzii'' C.B. Wolf and the genus '' Munzothamnus'' P.H. Raven. (Asteraceae).

References

American botanical writers American taxonomists Botanists active in California 1892 births 1974 deaths American information and reference writers Scientists from California Science and technology in Greater Los Angeles Writers from California Pomona College faculty People from Claremont, California 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American botanists 20th-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers {{US-botanist-stub