Miguel de J. Cházaro Basáñoez

Miguel de Jesús Cházaro Basañez (August 15, 1949 - April 4, 2023) was a Mexican botanist.

He was an expert in the study of Mexican succulents. Over the course of his career he described or co-described 21 plant species.

Biography Cházaro Basáñez was born on August 15, 1949 in Xalapa, Veracruz. He received a BA from the Universidad Veracruzana-Xalapa where he studied under Arturo Gómez-Pompa. From 1972 to 1973, he worked as a botanical collector for the Flora of Veracruz project, which studies the plants found in the state of Veracruz. He then worked at the Mexican Coffee Institute. There he studied parasitic and epiphytic plants in the coffee farming ecosystem and nectar-producing plants in coffee plantations in the Coatepec, Veracruz. He then received a scholarship to study at the University of Wisconsin Madison, where he worked under Hugh H. Iltis. He received a master's degree in Botany. His thesis was titled Miscellaneous Papers on the Flora of Veracruz, Mexico. After 25 years, he retired and moved back to his hometown of Xalapa. In 2012, he began teaching at the Universidad Veracruzana where he trained botanists. His books include: Vegetation: Environment Series in Coatzacoalcos Mistletoes of the State of Tlaxcala, Mexico, Botanical Anthology of the State of Jalisco, Mexico, Flora of Pico de Tancítaro National Park, Michoacán, Botanical Anthology of Western Mexico, Flora of Northern Jalisco and Huichol Ethnobotany, Agaves of Western Mexico, Management for the Sustainability of the Piedras Bola Natural Area, Ahualulco de Mercado, Jalisco, Trees of the Santiago River Canyon, Environmental and Cultural Synthesis of Zapotlán Lagoon, and the Botanical Guide to Cofre de Perote National Park. Two books are planned to be published after his death: Agaves and Mezcals of Jalisco and The Green Nuances: Flora of the Xalapa Region.

Eight species of plants native to Mexico have been named after Cházaro Basáñez: Ageratina chazaroana, Gentiana chazaroi, Echeveria chazaroi, Phoradendron chazaroi, Salvia chazaroana, Agave chazaroi, Sedum chazaroi, and Peperomia chazaroi.

Personal life Cházaro Basáñez was married to María Patricia Hernández-Romero. Together they had three children. His wife and children would often came with him on his botanical collecting trips. He named Agave maria-patriciae after his wife.

Cházaro Basáñez died on April 4, 2023 at his home in Veracruz. On the day he died, El Charco del Ingenio botanical garden in San Miguel de Allende shared online a photo taken that day of the species Agave chazaroi, which was bloom.