Oleg Polunin

Who was Oleg Polunin?

Oleg Vladimirovitch Polunin was an English botanist, teacher and traveller. He was one of three brothers with interests in the natural sciences. Nicholas Polunin was an arctic explorer and environmentalist, and Ivan Polunin was a medical doctor, photographer and ethnographist.

Educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, Oleg Polunin taught at Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey, for over 30 years, later devoting his time to writing popular and authoritative guides to the flora of Europe and the Himalaya. His most well-known work is Flowers of Europe, a classic text for both botanists and general readers. Polunin travelled widely in pursuit of samples and photographs, and he discovered several new species. He was awarded the Linnean Society’s H. H. Bloomer Award in 1983.