Botanist and gardener at the Oxford University physic garden (Oxford Botanic Garden). Jacob Bobart the Elder was born in Brunswick, Germany. He settled in Oxford, England, after a period in the military, and was appointed superintendent of the new physic garden at the university in about 1640. He is credited with the 1648 publication Catalogus plantarum horti medici Oxoniensis, and in 1658 issued an improved edition with his son, Jacob Bobart the younger, and two others.

He was married twice, to Mary (d. 1655) and Ann (d. 1696). Two of his three sons also became gardeners, with the eldest, Bobart the Younger, succeeding him at the Oxford gardens. He also had six daughters, and apparently owned quite a lot of property in Oxfordshire, bequeathing an inn and several houses to his children.

Linnaeus named Bobartia L. jointly for Bobart the Elder and Younger. Bobart the Elder usually spelt his name Bobert, but his son used the spelling Bobart.

Sources:
D.E. Allen, 2004, "Bobart , Jacob, the elder (c.1599-1680)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn:
www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2741, accessed 6 December 2011
G.C. Druce, 1923-1925, "The foundation of the Oxford Botanic Garden and its tercentenary", Report of the Botanical Society and Exchange Club of the British Isles, 7: 335-336.