Charles Clarke (botanist)

For the Victorian era British botanist, see Charles Baron Clarke.

Dr. Charles M. Clarke (born in Melbourne, Australia) is an ecologist and botanist specialising in the carnivorous plant genus Nepenthes, for which he is regarded as a world authority.[1] Clarke has an honours degree in Botany from Monash University in Melbourne, and a Ph.D. in Ecosystem management at the University of New England, in Armidale, New South Wales.

Clarke first travelled to Borneo in search of pitcher plants in 1987. In 1989 and 1990 he lived in Brunei, studying the ecology of Nepenthes. In between travels, Clarke has taught Ecology and Biometrics at James Cook University in Queensland, and worked as a horticultural consultant in Hong Kong.

He now works at the Cairn's Botanic Garden.[1] Clarke has written five books and guides on Nepenthes, which present a synthesis of the research performed on his travels around the Malay Archipelago. The most significant of these works are the monographs Nepenthes of Borneo (1997) and Nepenthes of Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia (2001).[2]

Clarke has described six species of Nepenthes: N. baramensis (now known as N. hemsleyana[3]), N. benstonei, N. chaniana, N. izumiae, N. jacquelineae, and N. tenax.

The standard author abbreviation C.Clarke is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[4]
  1. ^ a b Ellison, A. & Adamec, L. eds., 2018. Contributing Author Information. Carnivorous Plants: Physiology, ecology, and evolution. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198779841. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198779841.001.0001
  2. ^ Clarke, C. 2002. Twelve years of ecological research on Nepenthes in Southeast Asia - some personal highlights. Proceedings of the 4th International Carnivorous Plant Conference, Hiroshima University, Tokyo: 1–7.
  3. ^ Scharmann, M. & T.U. Grafe 2013. Reinstatement of Nepenthes hemsleyana (Nepenthaceae), an endemic pitcher plant from Borneo, with a discussion of associated Nepenthes taxa. Blumea, published online on 8 May 2013. doi:10.3767/000651913X668465
  4. ^ International Plant Names Index.  C.Clarke.