Father Francisco Manuel Blanco was a Spanish Augustinian friar who went to the Philippines not only

to fulfill religious duties, but also to satisfy his botanical curiosity. Through his curiosity, Flora de
Filipinas, a book about Philippine botany, was published. About 1,200 plants were described and
classified based on the Linnean classification system.

Elmer Drew Merrill was an American botanist who spent more than twenty years in the Philippines
working in the Bureau of Agriculture in Manila. He was dismayed that most of the botanical literature
like Blancos Flora de Filipinas and herbarium were destroyed by the war. He worked in an empty
building and he was able to establish a herbarium with 275,000 mounted specimens and a library.
He was then appointed as Botanist of the Bureau of Forestry, in addition to his position in Bureau of
Agriculture. He also became a professor in the University of the Philippines. He published Flora of
Manila in 1912 and Enumeration of Philippine Flowering Plants between the years 122 and
1926.

Dr. Eduardo Quisumbing was Filipino botanist who took over the Herbarium and Botanical Library
that was left by Merrill when he returned to the U.S. He rehabilitated the herbarium and library after
the Second World War destroyed it. It is now maintained under the National Museum. He was the
author of many taxonomic and morphological papers focusing on orchids. The plant Saccolabium
quisumbingii has been named after him and his work.

Adolf Elmer was an American botanist who worked in the Philippines for many years. He was a plant
collector in the Bureau of Science. After leaving the Bureau, he worked independently and collected
plants in the Philippines and other Asian countries. He was an editor of Leaflets of Philippine
Botany where he included more than 1,500 newly described taxa that he discovered himself.

Dr. Grecebio Jonathan D. Alejandro is a Full Professor at the College of Science and currently the
Director of the Office for Graduate Research,Faculty of the Graduate School in University of Santo
Tomas (UST). Dr. Alejandro is recognized for his pioneering research on Plant Molecular
Phylogenetics in the Philippines and discovery of novel genera and several new endemic species in
Rubiaceae (coffee family). He established the Thomasian Angiosperm Phylogeny and Barcoding
Group (TAPBG) in the UST - Research Center for the Natural and Applied Sciences. It puts special
focus on systematics and taxonomy, molecular phylogenetics, biodiversity, DNA barcoding of
medicinal plants and studies on the phytochemistry and biological potentials of endemic and
indigenous Philippine plants. To date, Dr. Alejandro has published more than 40 articles in national
and international ISI journals.

References:

Pelser,P.B., Barcelona, J.F. & Nickrent, D.L.(eds.). (2011 onwards) Cos Digital Flora of the Philippines. Retrieved from www.philippineplants.org
Robbins, W.J. (1958). Elmer Drew Merrill 1876-1956: A Biographical Memoir. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences
National Museum of the Philippines. (2014). Retrieved from
http://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nationalmuseumbeta/Botany/BotanyHistory2.html
ITHAKA. (2000 onwards). Retrieved from http://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000329727
GJDA. (2014). Retrieved from http://science.ust.edu.ph/index.php/lectures/carolina-garcia-mem-lecture/282-alejandro-outstanding-research-
and-development-awardee.html.