Creu Casas Sicart

Creu Casas i Sicart (Barcelona, April 26, 1913 – Barcelona, May 20, 2007) was a Catalan biologist and botanist. After graduating from the University of Barcelona, she became a bryology specialist and started a large inventory of Catalan and European bryophytes. She wrote two important books on this subject: Flora dels Briòfits dels Països Catalans (vol. I, 2001; vol. II, 2004) and Handbook of mosses of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands.

Early life Creu Casas was born into a humble family in Barcelona on 5 May 1913. Her father, a gardener, started working for the philanthropist and book enthusiast Rafael Patxot around 1917, in a section of the house where their family later resided. Responsible for tending to Patxot's gardens, including one situated on Montseny mountain, her father immersed her in a milieu of gardens, gardeners, and cultured visitors, fostering Creu's budding fascination with the botanical realm.

Education She pursued a degree in Pharmacy thanks to a well-known patron and entrepreneur, Rafael Patxot, who went into exile in Switzerland during the Spanish Civil War.

She began her studies in Pharmacy in 1931 at the University of Barcelona. One of her professors was the eminent botanist Pius Font i Quer, who strengthened her passion for the world of plants. She completed her studies in 1936, although three years later she had to revalidate her degree, which the Franco regime annulled.

Work From 1937 onwards, she worked as a pharmacist. After the war, she managed the pharmacy of the "Quinta de Salut la Aliança," while still maintaining contact with botanists and plants. She worked there for 27 years. and Handbook of Mosses of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands (2006).

In 1983, she was honored with the Narcís Monturiol Medal for Scientific and Technological Merit, and in 2002, she received the Fundació Catalana Prize for Research and the Serra d’Or Critical Prize for her research on the bryophytic flora of the Catalan Countries.