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Seymour H. “Sy” Sohmer (born ________________) is an American Botanist whose professional career spans five decades and includes positions as research botanist, author, and non-profit administrator. He is responsible for initiating major programs, including the Flora of the Philippines Project and the National Geographic Society-supported Hunstein River Expedition (1989) in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. He is currently Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History and Special Advisor to the Principal of Capel Manor College in London.

Biography
(SY: WE COULD USE BRIEF INFO ON YOUR CHILDHOOD, PARENTS, SIBLINGS. NO KIDDING. After receiving his M.S. in Botany from the University of Tennessee, he spent time in Costa Rica in programs offered by the Organization for Tropical Studies through the University of San Jose and the University of Miami.

Career
Dr. Sohmer was with the Department of Biology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse from 1967 to 1980. During this time he initiated the University’s Herbarium, which became third largest herbarium in the state of Wisconsin. During the same time, he served with the Smithsonian Institution’s Flora of Ceylon Project (1973) while he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. He also served as a Staff Associate in charge of the Tropical Biology Initiative at the National Science Foundation (1977–78) and as Forest Botanist with the then Office of Forests, Department of Primary Industry, Papua New Guinea, where he was charged with training Papua New Guineans in botanical research and collected widely in that country (1979). From 1980 to 1990, Dr. Sohmer was Assistant Director for Research and Chairman of the Botany Department of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu. He catalyzed a number of major programs, including the Flora of the Philippines Project, research efforts and initiatives in Papua New Guinea. He initiated and led the National Geographic Society-supported Hunstein River Expedition in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea in 1989 (which was covered in an article in National Geographic), organized the New Caledonia Terrestrial Biodiversity Task Force of the Pacific Science Association in 1990, and conceptualized and organized the Marquesas Expedition funded by Hermes Inc. (1988 and 1989). The Flora of Hawaii Project, which Sohmer catalyzed and acquired the requisite funding, culminated in the publication of the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai’i (1990), which was recognized as the world’s best botanical publication of its kind in the 20th century. Sohmer and his coauthors received the Engler Medal in Silver for this work at the 1993 International Botanical Congress; he was one of only 7 botanists at the time ever to have received this honor. Dr. Sohmer was the chairman of the Botany Committee of the Pacific Science Association for 13 years (1983–1995), played a leading role in organizing the science programs of three Pacific Science Congresses. From 1990 to 1993, Dr. Sohmer was the Senior Biodiversity Advisor for the Agency for International Development. He managed the Conservation of Biological Diversity Project, through which he supported a number of initiatives, such as the Biodiversity Support Program (a consortium of the World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy and the World Resources Institute), and interagency programs, such as the A.I.D./NSF (National Science Foundation) collaborative program in biodiversity, as well as the A.I.D./NSF/NIH program called the International Biodiversity Conservation Group Initiative. When he began his 21-year tenure as president and CEO of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas in 1993, it had three staff members, a collection of 400,000 herbarium specimens, and an annual budget of $175,000. By the time he left in 2014, the staff had grown to 32, the budget to $3 million, and the number of specimens to more than one million. Dr. Sohmer is currently Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History and Special Advisor to the Principal of Capel Manor College in London. He continues to serve as an officer or advisor for a number of other organizations, including treasurer for the Society for Economic Botany.

Awards
In 1993 at the International Botanical Congress, Dr. Sohmer and his coauthors were awarded the Engler Medal in Silver for the publication of the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai’i (1990), recognizing it as the world’s best botanical publication of its kind in the 20th century. Dr. Sohmer received the Freedom of the City of London award in 2006 and was admitted into the Livery of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners in 2007. He is also a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London.

Publications
He has published or edited some 80 articles and books, organized more than 20 major symposia and workshops, and given numerous papers and talks. Sohmer, S.H. 1966. Taxonomical and Cytological Studies of Manihot esculenta Crantz. M.S. Thesis, University of Tennessee. _____. 1966. Possible evolutionary development of Manihot esculenta Crantz. A.S.B. Bull. 13:46. _____. 1967. Some cultivars of Manihot esculenta in Costa Rica. CEIBA 13:54-59. _____. 1968. Microsporogenesis in Manihot esculenta. Cytologia 33:97-99. _____. 1968. Concerning Dr. MacLean and his "Pesticides and the Environment." BioScience 18:80. _____. 1970. Juncus effusus. I. The situation in Wisconsin. Trans. Wisconsin Acad. 58:187-195. _____. 1971. Lectotypification of Charpentiera (Amaranthaceae). Taxon 20:345-348. _____. 1972. A systematic study of the genus Charpentiera (Amaranthaceae). Ph.D. dissertation. Univ. of Hawai‘i. 241 pp. _____. 1972. A revision of the genus Charpentiera (Amaranthaceae). Brittonia 24:283-312. _____. 1973. Microsporogenesis in Charpentiera (Amaranthaceae). Chromosome Information Service. 14:14-_____. 1973. The biology of the genus Charpentiera (Amaranthaceae). Preliminary Report. Pacific Science 27:399-405. _____. 1973. Contributions from the Herbarium. V. Preliminary view of the Vascular Flora of the Myrick Park Marsh, La Crosse, Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Dept. of Biology. 16 pp. _____. 1974. Contributions from the Herbarium. VI. Preliminary check list of the flora of La Crosse County. University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. 20 pp. _____. 1975. The name of the American Nelumbo. Taxon 24:491-493. _____. 1975. The vascular flora of transects across Navigation Pools 7 and 8 on the Upper Mississippi. Trans. Wisconsin Academy 63:221-226. _____. 1975. Contributions from the Herbarium. VIII. Summary of Herbarium Activity for 1974 at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. 5 pp. _____. 1975. Contributions from the Herbarium. IX. Distribution of the Ceylonese collection of S.H. Sohmer. Univ. of Wisconsin-La Crosse. 16 pp. _____. 1976. Studies in the Amaranthaceae. I. The genus Indobanalia. Phytologia 34:235-238. _____. 1976. Kaluaa Gulch revisited. Newsl. Hawaiian Bot. Soc.15:23-24. _____. 1976. Herbstia, a new genus in the Amaranthaceae. Brittonia 28:448-452. _____. 1976. New names and taxa of Psychotria in Sri Lanka. Botaniska Notiser 129:377-381. _____. 1976. Contributions from the Herbarium. XIV. Flora of the Upper Mississippi River Floodplain. Summary and Status Report I. Distributed from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. 10 pp. _____. 1977. Aspects of the biology of Nelumbo pentapetala (Walter) Fernald, the American Lotus, in the Upper Mississippi. Trans. Wisconsin Acad. 65:258-273. _____. 1977. Chamissoa (Amaranthaceae) en la Republica Dominicana. Moscosoa. 1(2):1-7. _____. 1977. Charpentiera and Chamissoa (Amaranthaceae): distant cousins at best. Newsl. Hawaiian Bot. Soc. 15:49-51. _____. 1977. A revision of the genus Chamissoa (Amaranthaceae). Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 104:111-126. _____. 1977. The genus Psychotria (Rubiaceae) in the Hawaiian Islands. Lyonia 1(3):1-186. _____. 1977. The genus Psychotria in Sri Lanka. Submitted to the Flora of Ceylon Project. _____. 1977. Contributions from the Herbarium. XV. Summary of Herbarium activity for 1976. 7 pp. Reproduced at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. _____. 1978. Morphological variation and its taxonomic and evolutionary significance in the Hawaiian Psychotria (Rubiaceae). Brittonia 30:256-264. _____. 1978. Reproductive biology of Nelumbo pentapetala (Nelumbonaceae) on the Upper Mississippi River II. The insects associated with the transfer of pollen. Brittonia 30:355-364. _____. 1978. Tropical Biology. From: Program Review, Division of Environmental Biology, National Science Foundation. 2(4):5-10. _____. 1978. Review of the following books: Hawaiian Forest Plants and Hawaiian Coastal Plants and Scenic Shorelines. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club. 105:243-244. _____. 1978. Biological Research. In Proceedings of the U.S. Strategy Conference on Tropical Deforestation. U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development. Conference. 1978. _____. 1980. NSF support of basic research in tropical biology. BioScience 30:412-415. _____. 1981. Primulaceae. In A Revised Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon Vol. II:478-482. Amerind Publ. Co., New Delhi. _____. Editor. 1985. Forum on Systematics Resources in the Pacific. Bishop Mus. Spec. Publ. 74. 79pgs. _____. 1985. The Herbarium Pacificum: the re(making) of an important systematics resource. Abstracts, The Assoc. for Trop. Biol. 1985 Annual Meeting with AIBS. pg. 28 _____. 1985. Overview of the genus Psychotria (Rubiaceae) in the Philippines. AIBS Abstracts, 1985 AIBS meetings. _____. 1985. The Herbarium Pacificum and the Flora of Hawai‘i; the Van Heurck Connection. In: Zoom Op Zoo, Antwerp Zoo Focusing on Arts and Sciences, 50th Anniversary Publications. Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp. _____. 1987. Rubiaceae, in part, genus Psychotria. In: Dassanayake, M.S. & F.R. Fosberg, Editors, A Revised Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon Vol. 6:327-364. Amerind Publ. Co., New Delhi. _____. 1987. The Genus Psychotria (Rubiaceae) in the Philippines. Abstracts, XIV International Botanical Congress. pg. 309. _____. 1988. Hawaiian Plants: The study of their evolution and genetic value. Pgs.12-14. In: J.E. Canfield, Editor, Summary Document for Saving Hawai’i’s Native Plants Now or Never. The Garden Club of Honolulu. 42 pgs. _____. 1988. The non-climbing species of the genus Psychotria (Rubiaceae) in New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago. Bish. Mus. Bull. Bot. 1. 339 pgs. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. _____. 1990. Preserving the Native Flora of Hawaii. Environment West. 1(3): 10-13, 22. _____. 1990. Elements of Pacific Phytodiversity, in: P. Baas et al. (eds.), The Plant Diversity of Malesia, 293-304. Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands. _____. 1990. Organization and the Feasible Format of a “Large” Flora. Results of the Workshop The Future of Flora Malesiana. Flora Malesiana Bulletin Special Volume 1:5-8. _____. 1991. Evolution on Islands and Conservation: Philippines. Symposium paper, International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology. _____. 1991. “Botanical Destruction” (review of Alteration of Native Hawaiian Vegetation: Effects of Humans, Ecosystems, Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, Monographic Series 14:pp 43-51. _____. 1991. Saving man through saving nature. Viewpoint feature. BioScience 41:666 _____. 1994. Conservation and the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai'i: A sense of reality, or nine easy steps to producing a relevant flora. In: Peng, C.I. and C.H. Chou, eds., Biodiversity and Terrestrial	Their Activities and Introductions). BioScience 41:172-173. _____. 1996. The urgency of documenting plant diversity: The flora of the Philippines Project - a last chance to study the Plant diversity of the Philippines. Pgs. 28-40. In: Sampling the Green World; Innovative Concepts of Collection, Preservation, and Storage of Plant Diversity. Columbia University Press, NY. 289pgs. _____. 1997. Remembering OTS 64-3: The Botany Course of 1964. Liana, Winter issue: 12-13 _____. 2002. How many trees does a forest make? In: T. E. Headland & D. E. Blood (editors) “What Place for Hunter-Gatherers in Millennium Three?” SIL International Publications in Ethnography 38. pgs.47-58.

Co-authored Papers:

Sohmer, S. H.& Aaron Davis, 2005. Sohmer, S.H. The genus Psychotria (Rubiaceae) in the Philippines. including illustrations and maps. Botanical Research Institute of Texas Press. Frame, D., W.L. Wagner, D.R. Herbst, & S.H. Sohmer. 1989. Hawaiian Islands. In: Campbell, D.C. & H.D. Hammond, Editors, Floristic Inventory of Tropical Countries: The Current Status of Plant Systematics, Collections, and Vegetation, plus recommendations for the Future. pgs. 182-186. The New York Botanical Garden. Howarth, F.G., S.H. Sohmer & W.D. Duckworth. 1988. Hawaiian Natural History and Conservation Efforts: What's Left is Worth Saving. BioScience 38:232-237. Koopowitz, H. & S.H. Sohmer, A. Hohrnbill, & G. Perez. 1998. Deforestation and Plant Species Extinctions in the Philippines: Psychotria as an example. In: C.-I. Peng & P.P. Lowry II (eds.) Rare, Threatened and Endangered Floras of Asia and the Pacific Rim, Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica Monograph Series no. 16, pgs. 111-121. Peck, J.H. & S.H. Sohmer. 1978. Contributions from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse; Herbarium No. 22. Herbarium Report for 1977. Reproduced at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. 19 pp. Radovsky, F.J., P.H. Raven & S.H. Sohmer. 1984. Biogeography of the Tropical Pacific. Proceedings of a Symposium. Bishop Mus. Spec. Publ. 72. Sohmer, S.H. & M.A. Aiello. 1969. Contributions from the Herbarium. I. The Herbarium at La Crosse and elsewhere. Wisconsin State University-La Crosse, Publications Office publication. 26 pp. Sohmer, S.H. & Sam M. Gon III. 1995. Hawaiian Islands in: Centres of Plant Diversity, A Guide and Strategy for their Conservation. Vol.2. Asia, Australia, and the Pacific. pgs. 549 - 555. World Wide Fund for Nature and ICUN - The World Conservation Union, publishers. Sohmer, S.H. & R. Gustafson. 1987. Plants and Flowers of Hawai’i. University of Hawai‘i Press, Honolulu, simultaneously published by Times Editions, Singapore. 160 pgs, and over 180 color separations. Sohmer, S. H. & R. T. Hirano. 1972. Charpentiera (Amaranthaceae) as an ornamental. Newsl. Hawaiian Bot. Soc. 11:46-47. Sohmer, S.H. & P.J. O'Connor. 1987. A report on the renovation of Herbarium Pacificum (BISH). TAXON 36(2):408-412. Sohmer, S.H. & M.R. Stoxen. 1972. Contributions from the Herbarium. IV. Revised index to the herbarium, Univ. of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Dept. of Biology. 36 pp. Stuessy, T.F. & S. H. Sohmer, Editors. 1996. Sampling the Green World; Innovative Concepts of Collection, Preservation, and Storage of Plant Diversity. Columbia University Press, NY. 289 pgs. Swanson, S. D. & S. H. Sohmer. 1976. Reproductive Biology of Podophyllum peltatum (Berberidaceae). I. Intra-versus interpopulation crosses. Trans. Wisconsin Acad. 64:109-114. _____. 1976. The biology of Podophyllum peltatum L. (Berberidaceae), the may apple. II. The transfer of pollen and success of sexual reproduction. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club. 103:223-226. _____. 1978. The vascular flora of Navigation Pool 8 of the Upper Mississippi River. Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci. 85:45-61. Ziegler, S.R. & S.H. Sohmer. 1976. Contributions from the Herbarium. XIII. The flora of dredge material sites in Navigation Pool 8 on the Upper Mississippi River. Distributed from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. 20 pp. _____. 1977. The flora of dredged material sites in navigation pool 8 on the upper Mississippi River. Technical Report D-77-31.Dredged Material Research Program. U.S. Army Engineers Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi. 87 pp. & appendices. Wagner, W.L., D.R. Herbst, & S.H. Sohmer. 1986. Contributions to the Flora of Hawai‘i. I. Acanthaceae - Asteraceae. Bishop Mus. Occas. Pap. 26:102-122. _____. 1989. Contributions to the Flora of Hawai’i II. Begoniaceae - Violaceae and the Monocotyledons. Bishop Mus. Occas. Pap 29: 88-130. _____. 1990. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawai‘i. Honolulu. University of Hawai‘i and Bishop Museum Presses. ______. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Second Edition. University of Hawai’I Press.