David Allen

David John Allen is a botanist and author, specialising in tropical legumes in Africa and habitat conservation in East Devon, UK.

Education and personal life He was born in Guildford, UK in 1942. His parents were Della (née Williams) and Denis Allen, a diplomat. In 1946 the family moved to Washington in the USA returning to the UK in 1951. Allen was subsequently sent to boarding school in the UK. He became interested in natural history at a young age.

In 1963 he enrolled at Wye College, University of London. His B.Sc. degree in horticulture included a year at the University Botanic Garden in Cambridge. He subsequently took a M.Sc. at Exeter University in Plant Pathology, including a project with S. A. J. Tarr, followed later by a Ph.D. at University of Cambridge supervised by Alice Evans about genetic resistance to rust disease in the common bean. Allen subsequently led a national programme of research on legumes in Zambia until in 1984 he moved to a post in northern Tanzania organised through the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Cali, Colombia.

David J. Allen should not be confused with David Elliston Allen (1932–2023), who was the president from 1985 to 1987 of the Botanical Society of the British Isles (renamed in 2013 the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland).

Awards In 2016 David J. Allen was given an award at the National Association for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty Landscapes for Life Conference 2016.

Publications His books include:

David J. Allen (2008) A Travellers Guide to the Wildflowers and Common Trees of East Africa Camerapix Publishers International David J. Allen (2000) Wild flowers of the East Devon coast Quantock Nature, 90 pages. David J. Allen and Jillian M. Lenné (eds) (1997) The Pathology of Food and Pasture Legumes CABI Publishing, 768 pages.

D.J. Allen (1983) The Pathology of Tropical Food Legumes John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, England.