Richard Hook Richens

Richard Hook Richens (1919-1984) was a former Director of the Commonwealth Bureau of Plant Breeding and Genetics at Cambridge University, and became best known for his studies of elm (Ulmus). His most famous publication was the seminal "Elm", published in 1983, in which he sank many different elm species as varieties and subspecies of "Ulmus minor", notably the English Elm, which he renamed "U. minor var. vulgaris". His approach has been much criticized since his death, and some of his taxonomy challenged or discarded.

Publications

*"The New Genetics of the Soviet Union". 1946. (co-author with P. S. Hudson).
*The correct designation of the European field elms. 1968. "Feddes Repertorium" 79: 1-2.
*Elms and Motorways. "Motorways and the Biologist".
*"Elm". 1983. Cambridge University Press.

References

*Armstrong, J. V. & Sell, P. D. (1996). A revision of the British elms ("Ulmus" L., Ulmaceae): the historical background. "Bot. J. Linn. Soc." 120: 39-50.