Biography

British botanist. Leaver Howitt conducted studies into the willows, Salix L., and produced a flora of Nottinghamshire alongside his wife, Brenda. The pair were both active members of the Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI), recording in Nottinghamshire and taking part regularly in field meetings. Leaver Howitt was also the BSBI referee for Salicaceae and the Potamogetons.

Originally from Farndon in Nottinghamshire, he attended the Malvern Boys College and met Brenda Chalk in 1950. The couple were married the following year and lived together in Farndon. Leaver was a dedicated field botanist and spent 12 years painstakingly recording the plants of his home county, publishing his Flora of Nottinghamshire with Brenda in 1963. Interestingly, the last author of a flora of this county had been Leaver's great-great grandfather, Godfrey Howitt, in 1839. Once the flora was completed the pair began to collect plants further afield, visiting Norway, Iceland and Greenland in search of willows. Leaver published several papers on willow hybrids as well as a series of articles on Salix identification in the magazine of the Wild Flower Society. The hybrid Calystegia x howittiorum Brummitt was named in honour of the pair. Keen gardeners they developed and maintained an interesting collection of living plants in Farndon, including unusual shrubs and rare weed species.

Sources:
I. Weston and F.H. Perring, 1985, "Richard Crewdson Leaver Howitt (1911-1984)", Watsonia, 15: 417-419.