Boris Alexander Krukoff

Boris Alexander Krukoff ( – January 19, 1983) was a Russian-American botanist.

Born in Russia in 1898, Krukoff participated in the Russian Civil War, and was briefly interned in the Philippines. After reaching the United States, Krukoff studied in Syracuse, New York. He lived in New York until his death in 1983.

Krukoff made expeditions to the Amazon basin, Africa, and Sumatra. Whilst in Brazil, he collected plants, and conducted industrial espionage. Later, Krukoff founded Caffco Drugs, worked on curare, and smuggled Cinchona calisaya seeds out of Bolivia. Beginning in 1960, Krukoff and his first wife managed plantations in Guatemala. Towards the end of his career, Krukoff endowed several botanic gardens, supporting the work of several notable botanists.

Krukoff received several awards, and is the namesake of Krukoviella and Borismene. He is the authority for 183 taxonomic names.

Life Sources on Krukoff's early life are mostly autobiographical, and some are contradictory. Krukoff may have denied parts of his biography to conceal war activities when applying for United States residency.

Krukoff was born on , in either Kazan or Minusinsk, Russia.

In 1923, the flotilla was interned in the Philippines. Krukoff claimed, and later denied, to have worked on a rubber plantation near the Philippine city of Olongapo. His career focused on spermatophytes, gum-yielding trees, and medicinal plants. Krukoff was the company's vice president and production manager. He shipped samples from Manaus, Brazil, to New York, and set up chemical testing equipment in Manaus.

Krukoff's endowments supported Hermann Otto Sleumer, Peter Goldblatt, and André Joseph Guillaume Henri Kostermans, among others.

In 1979, Krukoff convened a world conference on the systematics of Leguminosae at Kew's Royal Botanic Gardens. Rupert Charles Barneby named the genus Borismene after Krukoff.