M. R. Henderson

Murray Ross Henderson (1899–1982) was a Scottish botanist who did most of his botanical work in the Straits Settlements and South Africa. He took a position as a botanist in Malaya in 1921 and became curator of the herbarium in the Singapore Botanical Gardens in 1924.

M. R. Henderson
M. R. Henderson

On the invasion of British Malaya by Japan in World War II, Henderson escaped from Singapore to Sumatra. He travelled from there via Colombo to Durban in South Africa, where he continued to do botanical work at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden for the remainder of the war.[1] He returned to Singapore in 1946 and was appointed acting Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens.[2] He was Director of the Gardens from 1949 to 1954 when he retired to Aberdeen.[3][4]

M. R. Henderson graduated in botany from the University of Aberdeen. He was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1922. He authored a number of floras and other botanical texts including the 3 volume "Malayan Wild Flowers"[5] and "Malayan Orchid Hybrids" (editor).[6]

He was honoured in 1998, with the naming of plant species from Malaya after him, Emarhendia.[8][9]

References
  1. Richard A. Howard, "The Role of Botanists During World War II in the Pacific Theatre" in BSPS vol. 207 "Science and the Pacific War: science and survival in the Pacific, 1939-1945", Roy M. MacLeod, ed.
  2. The Straits Times, 27 April 1946, Page 4
  3. The Straits Times, 1 May 1954, Page 4
  4. Desmond, R. 1994. Dictionary of British & Irish Botanists & Horticulturists including Plant Collectors, Flower Painters & Garden Designers. Taylor & Francis & The Natural History Museum, London
  5. "Malayan Wild Flowers" by M. R. Henderson, Malayan Nature Society Kuala Lumpur, 1954, reprinted 1974
  6. Henderson, MR; GH Addison. 1956. Malayan Orchid Hybrids. Ed. Government Printing Office, Singapore
  7. International Plant Names Index.  M.R.Hend.
  8. "Emarhendia Kiew, A.Weber & B.L.Burtt | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  9. Burkhardt, Lotte (2018). Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen – Erweiterte Edition [Index of Eponymic Plant Names – Extended Edition] (pdf) (in German). Berlin: Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin. doi:10.3372/epolist2018. ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5. Retrieved 1 January 2021.

Further reading
  • Burkill, H.M. (1983) "Murray Ross Henderson". J. Malaysian Branch, Royal Asiatic Society 56:97.
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