Cheng, Wan-Chun (1908-1987)

Herbarium
Natural History Museum (BM)
Collection
Plant Collectors
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Contributor
Natural History Museum (BM)
First name(s)
Wan-Chun
Last name
Cheng
Initials
W.-C.
Life Dates
1908 - 1987
Collecting Dates
1924 - 1936
Specification
Plant collector
Groups collected
Pteridophytes
Spermatophytes
Organisation(s)
A, BM, CQNM, DS, E, N, NF, NSM (currently NAS), PE, SING, US
Countries
Chinese region: China
Associate(s)
Hwa, C.T. (co-collector)
P'ei, C. (1903-) (co-collector)
Wang, Fa-Tsuan (1899-1985) (co-collector)
Biography
Botanist and dendrologist Wan-Chun Cheng followed in the footsteps of the European plant collectors of the early 20th century, conducting significant botanical exploration in China. He was an authority on gymnosperm taxonomy, in particular.

While serving at Nanjing University, Cheng was central to the identification of the dawn redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides Hu & W.C.Cheng, known only from fossils before being discovered growing in eastern Sichuan and south-west Hubei.

Cheng was chief editor of the four-volume Chinese woody flora, Sylva Sinica (published posthumously in 1983, 1985, 1997 and 2004). He initiated the vast project when he was president of the Chinese Forestry Institute of the Academy of Sciences in the mid-1970s, but only lived to see a draft of the final proof of volume one before he passed away on 25 July 1983. The species Juniperus chengii commemorates him.

Sources:
Anon., 1981, Taxon, 30(4): 866
D.G. Frodin, 1984, Guide to Standard Floras of the World: 582
J.S. Ma, 2009, Collected Works of Zheng Wanjun (Cheng Wan-Chun, 1904-1983).
References
Brummitt, R.K. & Powell, C.E., Authors Pl. Names (1992): 116; Fu, L.K., Index Herb. Sinic. (1993): 262, 263; Lanjouw, J. & Stafleu, F.A., Index Herb. Coll. A-D (1954): 124; Vegter, H.I., Index Herb. Coll. T-Z (1988): 992;
Cheng, Wan-Chun (1908-1987)
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