Leena Hämet-Ahti

Leena Hämet-Ahti (née Hämet, b. 3 January 1931, Kuusamo), also known as Raija-Leena Hämet-Ahti, is a Finnish botanist, plant taxonomist, and plant collector noted for being Associate Professor of Botany at the University of Helsinki, and later the Director of the university's Botanical Garden.

Biography She primarily studies alpine plants of Finland and similar northern hemisphere climates. Her PhD thesis, defended in 1963, was on mountain birch forests. She participated in the production of the seminal Finnish floras Retkeilykasvio (1984, 1998) and Suomen puu- ja pensaskasvio (1992).

Hämet-Ahti won the Finnish Cultural Foundation prize in 1990 and the silver Kairamo medal in 2007 "in recognition of her many merits in botany, university teaching, science popularisation and fostering Finnish cultural heritage". Her book Maarianheinä, mesimarja ja timotei won a in 1987 and her Suomen puu- ja pensaskasvio was selected as in 1989.

Hämet-Ahti has been a member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters since 1991. She is married to botanist and lichenologist Teuvo Ahti.