Pieter van Royen (1923-2002) was a Dutch botanist. He is an author of many papers on the flora of New Guinea.
Life
Pieter van Royen was born in
Lahat
The LAHAT (''Laser Homing Attack'' or ''Laser Homing Anti-Tank'', also a Hebrew word for incandescence) is a third generation semi-active laser homing guided low-weight anti-tank guided missile developed since 1991 and manufactured by Israel A ...
,
South Sumatra in
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
. In 1933, he moved with his family from the Dutch East Indies to the Netherlands. He obtained his doctorate at the
University of Utrecht in 1951
with the first volume of a monograph on the
Podostemaceae of the Neotropics, the second and third volumes of which he presented in 1953 and 1954, respectively.
From 1951 to 1962, he worked at the Rijksherbarium in
Leiden, from 1954 to 1955 he undertook his first botanical exploration in
New Guinea. From 1962 to 1965, he was employed at the Lae Botanical Garden there and from 1964 to 1965 at the
Queensland Herbarium in Brisbane, Australia.
In May 1967, he became a curator at the BP Bishop Museum Herbarium in Honolulu, Hawaii; he held this position until his retirement in 1983. During this time he devoted himself continuously to further research into the flora of New Guinea.
With his work, Van Royen has significantly enhanced knowledge of the New Guinea flora. His monograph on the Podostemonaceae is a fundamental standard work up to the present day; the American botanist
C. Thomas Philbrick wrote about it: “Much of our current knowledge of the taxonomy of the New World Podostemaceae is based in large part on the work of Dr. P. van Royen."
Honors
The genus ''
Van-royena
''Van-royena'' is a genus of the plant family Sapotaceae described as a genus in 1963.
There is only one known species, ''Van-royena castanosperma'', which is endemic to the Cook region in northern Queensland. It grows at altitudes of above sea ...
'' from the family of
Sapotaceae was named in 1964 by van Royen.
The generic name ''Vanroyenella'' from the
Podostemaceae family also honored P. van Royen.
It is now classed as a synonym of ''
Marathrum
''Marathrum'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Podostemaceae
Podostemaceae (riverweed family), a family in the order Malpighiales, comprise about 50 genera and species of more or less thalloid aquatic herbs.
Distribut ...
''
Works (selection)
*The Podostemaceae of the New World, Vol. I, in: Meded. Bot. Mus. Herb. Rijks Univ. Utrecht, 107: 1–151, 1951
*The Podostemaceae of the New World, Vol. II, in: Acta Bot. Neerl. 2 (1): 1-21, 1953
*The Podostemaceae of the New World, Vol. III, in: Acta Bot. Neerl. 3: 215–263,1954
*The genus Rubus
osaceaein New Guinea, Vaduz, Cramer, 1969
*P. van Royen & PR Reitz, Podostemáceas, in: PR Reitz. (Ed.). Flora Illustrada Catarinense, 1a (5): 2-36, 1971
*Sertulum Papuanum 17. Corsiaceae of New Guinea and surrounding areas, in: Webbia 27: pp. 223–255, 1972
*The alpine flora of New Guinea, Vaduz, 1979,
*Genus Corybas (Orchidaceae in Its Eastern Areas), 1984,
References
[Lotte Burkhardt: ''Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen – Erweiterte Edition.'' Teil I und II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2018, doi:10.3372/epolist2018.]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Royen, Pieter van
1923 births
2002 deaths
Dutch botanists
Dutch people of the Dutch East Indies
Dutch expatriates in Papua New Guinea
Dutch expatriates in the United States
Dutch expatriates in Australia