Arthur Whistler

Wayne Arthur Whistler (October 12, 1944 – April 2, 2020) was an American ethnobotanist, academic and writer. Whistler, an adjunct professor at the University of Hawaii's Department of Botany, was an expert on tropical flora of the Pacific Islands, especially Samoa and Tonga.

Education and career Whistler was born near Death Valley in San Bernardino County, California. He earned a BA in biology from the University of California, Riverside, in 1965; an MA in botany, from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1966, and PhD in botany, from the University of Hawaii, in 1979. Once he completed his first two degrees, Whistler served in the Peace Corps as a teacher at Samoa College in Apia, Western Samoa (now known as Samoa). He then moved to Hawaii, where he completed a doctorate in botany from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, focusing on Samoan plant life, in 1979.

Whistler authored more than a dozen books on the botany and ethnobotany of the Pacific Islands, including Rainforest Trees of Samoa, Polynesian Herbal Medicine, and Plants of the Canoe People: An Ethnobotanical Voyage through Polynesia, which focused on the plants utilized by Polynesian voyagers. The garden formally opened in August 2021. Rainforest Trees of Samoa: A Guide to the Common Lowland and Foothill Forest Trees of the Samoan Archipelago, University of Hawaiʻi Press. Plants in Samoan Culture: The Ethnobotany of Samoa, University of Hawaiʻi Press. The Samoan Rainforest: A Guide to the Vegetation of the Samoan Archipelago, University of Hawaiʻi Press. Samoan Herbal Medicine: 'O La'au ma Vai Fofo o Samoa, University of Hawaiʻi Press. Wayside Plants of the Islands: A Guide to the Lowland Flora of the Pacific Islands, University of Hawaiʻi Press. Polynesian Herbal Medicine, University of Hawaiʻi Press. Flowers of the Pacific Island Seashore: A Guide to the Littoral Plants of Hawai'i, Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Fiji, and Micronesia, University of Hawaiʻi Press. Tongan Herbal Medicine, University of Hawaiʻi Press.