Floyd Alonzo McClure

Floyd Alonzo McClure (14 August 1897, Shelby County, Ohio – 15 April 1970, Bethesda, Maryland) was an American botanist and plant collector. He was one of the world's leading experts on bamboo and worked in China for 24 years.

Biography McClure was educated at Otterbein College from 1914 to 1916. He transferred to Ohio State University, where he graduated with A.B. in 1918 and B.S. in agriculture in 1919. In 1927 the management of Canton Christian College was transferred from American to Chinese people, and the English name of the institution was changed to "Lingnan University". At Lingnan University, McClure was an assistant professor from 1927 to 1928, an associate professor from 1928 to 1931, a full professor from 1931 to 1941, and the curator of economic botany from 1927 to 1941. in 1929, from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1930 and 1934, and from the National Research Council in 1936.

He published articles in journals sponsored by Lingnan University, as well as in The Ohio Journal of Science, The Scientific Monthly, Kew Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, Blumea, and Journal of the Arnold Arboretum.

In his research on bamboo, he worked in seven province of China, McClure's 1966 book The Bamboos—A Fresh Perspective gave a thorough presentation of how the bamboos are cultivated, propagated, and used. The book, dealing with bamboos in Asia and in the tropical Americas, is important for its compilation of literature on bamboos from eastern and western sources.

McClure married Ruth Drury on 7 September 1922 in Dayton, Ohio. They met and became maritally engaged in 1915 when they were students at Otterbein College. In China they raised two young daughters, Sophie Louise (born in 1927 in Guangzhou) and Janet. Ruth became in 1959 his research assistant and worked with him daily until he died in 1970.

Eponyms Maclurolyra tecta

Selected publications