Cai Xitao or Tsai Hse-Tao (; 10 April 1911 – 9 March 1981) was a Chinese

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 ...

from a village near Dongyang, Zhejiang province,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. In 1928, after studying at various institutions in Hangzhou and Shanghai, though without attaining any formal qualifications, Cai Xitao was able to secure a job at the Jing Sheng Botanic Laboratory in Beijing () through family connections. In 1932, he was transferred to Yunnan province, where he worked as a botanist in the province's temperate climate. In 1938, he set up the Yunnan Botany Research Institute () in

Heilongtan Black Dragon Pool () is a famous pond in the scenic Jade Spring Park (Yu Quan Gong Yuan) located at the foot of Elephant Hill, a short walk north of the Old Town of Lijiang in Yunnan province, China. It was built in 1737 during the Qing dynasty ...

, and acted as the institute's Vice President. In 1950, Cai Xitao was given charge of the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and in 1959 the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden) was established under his control. He died on 9 March 1981. Some of the specimens he collected are now part of the herbaria at Harvard University.

References

External links

Cai Xitao Biography (Chinese)Kunming Institute of Botany C.I.S. Website (Chinese)Harvard University Herbaria
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cai, Xitao 1911 births 1981 deaths 20th-century Chinese botanists Scientists from Jinhua Biologists from Zhejiang