Cronquist, Arthur

Cronquist, Arthur (John) (b. Franklin Arthur Beers) (1919–92) botanist; born in San Jose, Calif. He was a staff member at the New York Botanical Garden (1943–46), taught at the University of Georgia (1946–48), moved to the State College of Washington (1948–52), then returned to the New York Botanical Garden (1952–92). He made major contributions to the taxonomy of American species of composite flowers, the systematics of flowering plants, and studies of the flora of the U.S.A. and southern Canada. His system of classifying plants by their evolutionary relationships (1968), known as the Cronquist system, has become the definitive taxonomic reference for botanists.