Ikuro Takahashi (botanist)

Ikuro Takahashi (高橋 郁郎, Takahashi Ikurō, 1892–1981) was a Japanese botanist, specializing in citrus, who was hailed as the "father of citrus" especially in his native Shizuoka Prefecture.[1]

After graduating from the prefectural nōgakko (ja) or "agricultural college," he enrolled in the apprenticeship/internship system established by the then-Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, and learned his skills at the local state-run agricultural experiment station under the Horticultural Department. After a stint in Kumamoto Prefecture, he returned to the old department which was being reorganized as the ministerial Horticultural Experiment Station, where he served as horticultural engineer (1921). Later he served his home prefecture, and was appointed the first head of the Shizuoka Prefectural Citrus Experiment Station, which was his own brainchild (1940). His chief work includes Kankitsu ("Citrus"), which went through some five revisions. He was the long-time chief writer and editor of Kajitsu Nippon, a journal of fruit agriculture.[2][3]

He published the scientific name Citrus sulcata hort. ex. Ik.Takah.[4] (or I.Takah.[5])[6] for a type of citrus known as sanbokan.

  1. ^ Kankitsu no chichi Takahashi Ikuro ("Ikuro Takahashi, father of citrus") (高橋柑橘顕彰会 1982), a biography of his containing a collection of memoirs on him by colleagues.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference matsumoto was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference nagaoka was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Plant name details". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens.
  5. ^ "Citrus sulcata hort. ex I. Takah". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2013-02-11.
  6. ^ name published in: Kankitsu Saibai (Citrus Culture): 86 (1931)