Julian Alfred Steyermark (January 27, 1909 – October 15, 1988) was a Venezuelan American botanist. His focus was on New World vegetation, and he specialized in the family Rubiaceae.

Life and work

Julian Alfred Steyermark was born in St. Louis, Missouri as the only child of the businessman Leo L. Steyermark and Mamie I. Steyermark (née Isaacs). He studied at the Henry Shaw School of Botany at Washington University in St. Louis, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1933. His distinguished career included the Field Museum of Chicago, the Instituto Botánico of Caracas, and he was with the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis from 1984 until his death. Steyermark's major works were his Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana, Flora of Missouri, and his Flora of Guatemala. During his life, Steyermark collected over 130,000 plants in twenty-six countries, which earned him an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records. He made the initial descriptions of 2,392 taxa of plants, including one family, 38 genera, and 1,864 species. The standard author abbreviation Steyerm. is used to indicate Steyermark when citing a botanical name.

Honours

Julian Alfred Steyermark is honoured in several genera of South American plants; Steyermark is also commemorated in the scientific name of a species of South American snake, Atractus steyermarki.

Major works