Richard Eric Holttum (20 July 189518 September 1990) was an English botanist and writer.

Early life

Holttum was born 20 July 1895 in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, to English store owners of

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

faith. He was educated at Bootham School, York. He studied at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He served with the Friends' Ambulance Unit on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, for which he was awarded the

Croix de guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

Career

Having received botanical training, Holttum was given the role of assistant director at the

Singapore Botanical Gardens The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a -year-old tropical garden located at the fringe of the Orchard Road shopping district in Singapore. It is one of three gardens, and the only tropical garden, to be honoured as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Th ...

in 1922, with the guidance of

Isaac Henry Burkill Isaac Henry Burkill (18 May 1870 – 8 March 1965) was an English botanist who worked in India and in the Straits Settlements (present day Singapore). He worked primarily in economic botany but published extensively on plant biology, ethno-botany ...

. In Singapore, he performed some exhaustive studies, and was promoted to director in 1925, following the retirement of Burkill. His areas of expertise were the growth and cultivation of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

s. He continued working at the Singapore Botanical Gardens even during the Japanese occupation of the country. Holttum and Corner (assistant director at the Singapore Botanical Garden) were once detained at the internment camp in Singapore. Dr. Kwan Koriba and Hidezo Tanaka, who took control of the Gardens, pleaded to keep Holttum and Corner at their posts at the Gardens. The Japanese Emperor

Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

was an orchid enthusiast, so he granted the plea. This action led to the success of the hybridization of Singapore's national flower. When the war finished, Holttum and Corner got approved to release Dr. Kwan Koriba from a prisoner camp. Dr. Kwan rejected the offer and chose to stay with his fellow soldiers. Holttum praised his act later. Returning from Great Britain, where he departed to in 1925, Holttum continued his job as the Garden's director, until he moved to the University of Malaya in Singapore to serve as its first Professor of Botany. Holttum penned many books during his tenure at the educational institution, including ''Gardening at the lowlands of the Malays'' (which is credited as the first book on Singaporean gardening) and ''Plant Life in Malaya''. He was also the first head of department for Botany at the Department of Biological Sciences at the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

. He founded the Malayan Orchid Society (now Orchid Society of South East Asia) in 1928. He went back to England later in 1954. Holttum's area of interest was pteridology, such as that of Malayan ferns. In 1975 the British Pteridological Society dedicated an edition of The Fern Gazette to celebrate his Eightieth birthday, and the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society published eight short addresses about his life. The Flora Malesiana Bulletin published his autobiography, a bibliography of his publications, and a list of 27 plants dedicated to him. There are at least 23 species of plant named after him, with epithets of ''holttumii'' or ''holttumianus''. Also in 1924, ''

Holttumia ''Holttumia'' is a genus of fungi in the family Xylariaceae. The genus name of ''Holttumia'' is in honour of Richard Eric Holttum (1895–1990), who was an English botanist and author. The genus was circumscribed by Curtis Gates Lloyd Curtis ...

'' was published, which is a genus of

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

in the family

Xylariaceae The Xylariaceae are a family of mostly small ascomycetous fungi. It is one of the most commonly encountered groups of ascomycetes and is found throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the world. They are typically found on wood, seeds, f ...

. Then published in 1964, ''

Rehia ''Rehia'' is a genus of plants in the grass family. The only known species is ''Rehia nervata'', native to Brazil ( Amapá, Pará, Maranhão) and to the Guianas ( Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guy ...

'' which is a genus of plants in the

grass family Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns and ...

. Then in 1964, ''

Holttumochloa ''Holttumochloa'' is a genus of Malaysian bamboos in the Poaceae, grass family native to the hill forests of Peninsular Malaysia. It is sometimes included in the genus ''Bambusa''. The genus name of ''Holttumochloa'' is in honour of Richard Eric ...

'' which is a genus of

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

s also in the Poaceae family and native to the hill forests of

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...

. He received many awards, including the Gold Medal of the

American Orchid Society The American Orchid Society (AOS) is a horticultural society for education, conservation, and research of orchids. It was founded in 1921, and has an international membership. It is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. It has been called an "indus ...

(1963), and the Linnean Medal from the Linnean Society (1964).

Death

Spending some time at the

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

to work, Holttum died 18 September 1990 in

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, in the Putney SW15 postal district, and takes up a far western strip running north to south of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large council house estates and is home to the U ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, aged 95.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holttum, Richard Eric 1895 births 1990 deaths Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) British pteridologists English botanists Fellows of the Linnean Society of London People from Cambridgeshire People educated at Bootham School Administrators in British Malaya Administrators in British Singapore Linnean Medallists