Alan W. Meerow

Who is Alan W. Meerow?

Alan W. Meerow is an American botanist, born in New York in 1952. He specializes in the taxonomy of the family Amaryllidaceae and the horticulture of palms and tropical ornamental plants. He also works on the population genetics and molecular systematics of cycads and palms.

He studied at the Bronx High School of Science and then at the University of New York. Dropping out after a year, aged 19, he moved to Santa Cruz, California. After living on a farm for four years he decided to resume his studies in botany and horticulture at the University of California.

Initially his interest in botany was focused on trees, working for three years in the arboretum of the University. He graduated in December 1978 and continued his postgraduate study at the University of Florida, after working for two years at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, where his interest in Amaryllidaceae was stimulated. His master's thesis, in 1983, was on the taxonomy of the genus Eucharis. He continued with the same subject in his doctoral studies, producing his thesis entitled "A Monograph of Eucharis and Caliphruria" in 1986.