Gloria Galeano Garcés

Gloria Amparo Galeano Garcés (April 22, 1958 – March 23, 2016) was a Colombian botanist and agronomist specializing in the palm family. Galeano was a faculty member at the National University of Colombia, and was the director of the Institute of Natural Sciences from 2003 to 2006. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Aarhus, Denmark in 1997.

Galeano authored taxonomic descriptions of 58 species, subspecies and varieties of plants, especially in the palm family. She published 17 books, 68 scientific papers, and 15 book chapters, mostly on palm and its taxonomy, systematics, ecology, uses, traditional knowledge, ecology, conservation and harvest impacts of Colombian plants and Neotropical palms. She also co-authored a field guide to the palms of the Americas.

In 1996 she won the science prize from Fundación Alejandro Angel Escobar for the Field guide to American palms (co-authored by Andrew Henderson & Rodrigo Bernal).

The palm species Geonoma galeanoae is named after her.

New species of plants discovered

Arecaceae Aiphanes acaulis – Principes 29(1): 20. 1985 Aiphanes graminifolia – Caldasia 24(2): 277 (-280; fig. 1). 2002 Astrocaryum triandrum – Candollea 43(1): 279 (1988) Bactris rostrata – Caldasia 24(2): 280 (-283; fig. 2). 2002 Ceroxylon amazonicum – Caldasia 17: 398 fig. 1995 Ceroxylon echinulatum – Caldasia 17: 399-402 fig. 1995 Ceroxylon parvum – Caldasia 17: 403 1995 Ceroxylon peruvianum – Revista Peru. Biol. 15(Supl. 1): 65 (-67; figs. 1-3). 2008 Ceroxylon sasaimae – Caldasia 17: 404-405 fig. 1995 Chamaedorea murriensis – Principes 31: 143 1987 Chamaedorea ricardoi – Palms 48(1): 27 (-29; fig. 1). 2004 Geonoma chlamydostachys – Principes 30: 71 1986 Geonoma santanderensis – Caldasia 24(2): 282 (-284; fig. 3). 2002 Geonoma wilsonii – Caldasia 24(2):284 (-290; figs. 4-5). 2002 Oenocarpus makeru – Brittonia 43(3): 158 (1991) Oenocarpus simplex – Brittonia 43(3): 154 (1991) Sabinaria – Phytotaxa 144: 28. 2013 Sabinaria magnifica – Phytotaxa 144: 34

Cyclanthaceae Asplundia harlingiana – Caldasia 14: 27 (-28). 1984 Asplundia sanctae-ritae – Caldasia 14: 28 (-29). 1984 Asplundia sarmentosa – Caldasia 14: 29 (-30). 1984 Dicranopygium fissile – Caldasia 14: 31, figs. 1984 Dicranopygium scoparum – Caldasia 14: 32, figs. 1984