Frans Hubert Edouard Arthur Walter Robyns Explained

Walter Robyns
Birth Date:	25 May 1901
Birth Place:	Aalst, Belgium
Nationality:	Belgian
Field:	Botany
Work Institutions:	National Botanic Garden of Belgium
Author Abbrev Bot:	Robyns

Frans Hubert Edouard Arthur Walter Robyns (1901-1986), known as Walter Robyns, was a Belgian botanist. His son, André Robyns (1935–2003), was also a botanist.

Biography

He received his doctorate in sciences at the University of Louvain.^[1] Robyns spent two long stays at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, travelled in central Africa and performed taxonomic work on many groups of tropical African plants, amongst others: Rubiaceae, grasses and legumes.^[2]

From 1931 to 1966 he served as director of the Jardin Botanique National de Belgique (National Botanic Garden of Belgium),^[1] where he shaped the transfer of the institute from the site in Brussels to the Bouchout Domain in Meise.

He was the initiator of a monographic flora series for central Africa, still continued today ("Flore d'Afrique centrale"). From 1959 to 1964 he was president of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy.^[1]

Partial bibliography

Flore agrostologique du Congo Belge et du Ruanda-Urundi, Bruxelles : Goemaere, 1929-1934 - Agrostologic flora of the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi.
Flore des spermatophytes du Parc national Albert (with Roland Tournay) Bruxelles : Institut des parcs nationaux du Congo belge, 1947-1955 - Spermatophytes from the Albert National Park.
Les territoires biogéographiques du Parc National Albert, Bruxelles : Institut des parcs nationaux du Congo belge, 1948 - Biogeographic territories of the Albert National Park.
Flore du Congo belge et du Ruanda-Urundi, préparée par le Comité exécutif, Bruxelles : [Jardin botanique de l'État], 1958 - Flora of the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi.^[3]

Eponymy

Robynsia, family Rubiaceae, name introduced by John Hutchinson (1931).
Robynsiella, family Amaranthaceae, name introduced by Karl Suessenguth (1938).
Robynsiochloa, family Poaceae, name introduced by Henri Jacques-Félix (1960).
Robynsiophyton, family Fabaceae, name introduced by Rudolf Wilczek (1953).^[1]

Sources

Diagre-Vanderpelen, D.; Fabri, R.. (2020). "Robyns, Frans, Hubert, Édouard, Arthur, Walter, botaniste, directeur du Jardin botanique de l’État à Bruxelles, professeur à l’Université catholique de Louvain, né à Mielen-boven-Aelst le 25 mai 1901, décédé à Uccle le 27 décembre 1986". Nouvelle Biographie Nationale, Bruxelles. 15: 312-314.

External links

Walter Robyns on the website of the National Botanic Garden of Belgium
Flore d'Afrique Centrale (Zaïre-Rwanda-Burundi). Spermatophytes at Smithsonian Collections Search Center