was a Japanese

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Biography

Matsumura was born in

Ibaraki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,828,086 (1 July 2023) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...

, of a

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

family. He took a great interest in botany as a young man. In 1883, he had been made assistant professor of botany in the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

under Ryōkichi Yatabe. Matsumura then studied abroad at the

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

between 1886 and 1888. In 1890, he became

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

at the University of Tokyo and in 1897 director of the Koishikawa Botanical Gardens.Brummitt, RK; CE Powell. 1992. ''Authors of Plant Names''.

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

. He also served as dean of the botanical department. In 1922, Matsumura retired from teaching, and began to publish '' Waka'' poetry.

Legacy

The genus '' Matsumurella'' is named for Matsumura.

Selected publications

Matsumura assisted in the preparation of Brinkley's ''Unabridged Japanese-English Dictionary'' (1896), and he published many important works on the

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

of Japan, including: *''Nomenclature of Japanese Plants in Latin, Japanese, and Chinese'' (1884) *''Names of Plants and their Products in English, Japanese, and Chinese'' (1892) *''Conspectus of Leguminosœ'' (1902) *''Index plantarum Japonicarum: Cryptogamœ'' (1904) *''Phanerogamœ'' (1905) *with

Ito Ito, Itō or Itoh may refer to: Places * Ito Island, an island of Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea * Ito Airport, an airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo * Ito District, Wakayama, a district located in Wakayama Prefecture, Japa ...

, ''Tentamen Florœ Lutchuensis'' (1899) *with Ito, ''Rivisio Alni Specierum Japonicarum'' (1902) *with Hayata, ''Enumeratio Plantarum in Insula Formosa Sponte Crescentium'' (1906)

References

20th-century Japanese botanists Botanists active in Japan Japanese non-fiction writers 1856 births 1928 deaths 19th-century Japanese botanists Japanese taxonomists Academic staff of the University of Tokyo Scientists from Ibaraki Prefecture {{Japan-botanist-stub