Kennedy, Helen (1944-)

Herbarium
Natural History Museum (BM)
Collection
Plant Collectors
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Contributor
Natural History Museum (BM)
First name(s)
Helen
Last name
Kennedy
Initials
H.
Life Dates
1944 -
Collecting Dates
1974 -
Specification
Plant collector
Groups collected
Spermatophytes
Organisation(s)
U (main), AAU, BH, BM, CAS, CAY, COL, CR, DAV, DUKE, EAP, ECON (currently GH), F, G, GB, GH, HEH, INB, K, LL (currently TEX), M, MA, MEXU, MICH, MO, NY, P, PMA, QCA, RB, S, SEL, TEFH, UBC, UC, UCR, UNA, US, WIN, WIS, Z
Countries
Australasia: AustraliaTropical South America: French Guiana, Guyana, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, EcuadorCentral American Continent: Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica, MexicoMalesian region: Indonesia, MalaysiaPacific region: Cook Islands, Samoa, French PolynesiaIndian region: Sri LankaIndo-China: ThailandCaribbean region: Trinidad and TobagoNorth American region: United States, CanadaBrazilian region: Brazil
Associate(s)
Anderson, William Russell (1942-)(co-collector)Andrews, Robin (fl. 1972)(co-collector)Baker, Raymond F. (1945-)(co-collector)Baumann, T. (c. 1952-)(co-collector)Besse, Elizabeth (Libby) (1928-)(co-collector)Black, C.(co-collector)Braga, Pedro Ivo Soares (1950-)(co-collector)Breckon, Gary John (1940-)(co-collector)Breedlove, Dennis Eugene (1939-)(co-collector)Burle-Marx, Roberto (1909-1994)(co-collector)Chong, C. von (fl. 1973)(co-collector)Christenhusz, Maarten Joost Maria (1976-)(co-collector)Dressler, Robert Louis (1927-)(co-collector)Dreyfus, D.(co-collector)Ek, Renske Cornelia (1960-)(co-collector)Foster, Robin Bradford (1945-)(co-collector)Ganders, Fred R. (1945-)(co-collector)Gentry, Alwyn Howard (Al) (1945-1993)(co-collector)Granville, Jean-Jacques de (1943-)(co-collector)Haber, William A. (Bill) (1946-)(co-collector)Hammel, Barry E. (1946-)(co-collector)Hammond, D. (fl. 1992)(co-collector)Hinkle, T.(co-collector)Hoffman, Bruce (1962-)(co-collector)Horvitz, Carol C. (fl. 1972-2007)(co-collector)House, Paul R. (fl. 1987-1992)(co-collector)Jimenez, Q. (1961-)(co-collector)Le Corff, J. (fl. 1990)(co-collector)Lockwood, Tommie Earl (1941-1975)(co-collector)Luteyn, James Leonard (1948-)(co-collector)Lynch, Steven P. (fl. 1979-1999)(co-collector)Maas, Paulus Johannes Maria (1939-)(co-collector)Maas-van de Kamer, Hillegonda (Hiltje) (1941-)(co-collector)Madison, Michael T. (1947-)(co-collector)Mahler, A. (fl. 1973)(co-collector)McAlpin, B.W.(co-collector)McPherson, Tsitsi Y. (fl. 2001)(co-collector)Monteiro, Osmarino P. (fl. 1967-1978)(co-collector)Morales, Juan Francisco (1970-2006)(co-collector)Plowman, Timothy Charles (Tim) (1944-1989)(co-collector)Peréz B., I. (1966-)(co-collector)Pulles, J. (fl. 1992-1996)(co-collector)Raaimakers, D. (fl. 1992-1996)(co-collector)Rodríguez A., A.L. (1949-)(co-collector)Rojas, A. (fl. 2002)(co-collector)Sabatier, Daniel René Louis (1955-)(co-collector)Sanders, Andrew C. (1950-)(co-collector)Salvato, T.B. (1955-)(co-collector)Schultes, Richard Evans (1915-2001)(co-collector)Schunke Vigo, José (fl. 1935-1978)(co-collector)Seifert, F. (fl. 1972)(co-collector)Skog, Laurence Edgar (Larry) (1943-)(co-collector)Soderstrom, Thomas Robert (1936-1987)(co-collector)Solomon, James Clinton (1952-)(co-collector)Souza, M. de Fatima Gomes de (fl. 1991)(co-collector)Steiner, J. (fl. 1973)(co-collector)Sucre, Benjamin Dimitri (fl. 1962-1979)(co-collector)Tangerini, A.R. (1949-)(co-collector)Teraoka, W. (fl. 1979-1981)(co-collector)Webster, Grady Linder (1927-2005)(co-collector)Wiehler, Hans Joachim (1930-2003)(co-collector)Williams, N.R.(co-collector)
Biography
American botanist specialising in Marantaceae, especially Calathea and cultivated taxa. Helen Kennedy was born in Riverside, California, and studied music in Arizona before completing a biology degree at the University of California, Davis, in 1966. She continued at Davis to take her master's degree in botany (1968), studying tropical plants in Costa Rica over the summers of 1967 and 1968. For her PhD (1974), also taken at the University of California, she wrote a thesis on the systematics and pollination of closed-flowered species of Calathea. The primary focus of Kennedy's work is the Marantaceae family, though she has also collected herbaceous monocots, especially Zingiberales, aroids, bromeliads, plus ferns and various Piperaceae. She has collected on numerous occasions in Central and South America, South East Asia, Australia and Pacific islands as well as in North America, and has provided vouchers for Marantaceae collections in the Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden in Thailand and Lyon Arboretum, Hawaii. She has worked on flora projects including Flora Mesoamericana, Flora of the Guianas, Manual de las plantas de Costa Rica and Flora of Nicaragua, and is a member of the Heliconia Society International. With Fred Ganders of the University of British Columbia she also completed the section on Marantaceae for A Tropical Garden Flora (2005). Several taxa have been named after her including Philodendron heleniae Croat and Guzmania kennedyae L.B. Sm. & Read.

Sources:
Personal communication, April 2009.
References
Brummitt, R.K. & Powell, C.E., Authors Pl. Names (1992): 321; Knobloch, I.W., Phytologia Mem. 6 (1983): 48; Renner, S. Smithsonian Contr. Bot. 82 (1993): 19;
Kennedy, Helen (1944-)
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