Ninzo Matsumura

Who was Ninzo Matsumura?

Ninzo Matsumura was a Japanese botanist, born in Ibaraki Prefecture, of a samurai family. He took a great interest in botany as a young man and after he was 30 studied in Würzburg and Heidelberg. In 1883 he had been made assistant professor of botany in the University of Tokyo, and in 1890 became professor and in 1897 director of the Botanical Gardens. He assisted in the preparation of Brinkley's Unabridged Japanese-English Dictionary, and he published many important works on the flora of Japan, including:

Nomenclature of Japanese Plants in Latin, Japanese, and Chinese

Names of Plants and their Products in English, Japanese, and Chinese

Conspectus of Leguminosœ

Index plantarum Japonicarum: Cryptogamœ

Phanerogamœ

with Ito, Tentamen Florœ Lutchuensis

with Ito, Rivisio Alni Specierum Japonicarum

with Hayata, Enumeratio Plantarum in Insula Formosa Sponte Crescentium