Wilbur Howard Duncan

Wilbur Howard Duncan (October 15, 1910 – March 25, 2005) was a botany professor at the University of Georgia for 40 years where he oversaw an expansion in the school's herbarium collection and described three new plant species. Duncan also authored several books on plant species of the Eastern and Southeastern United States.

Biography Duncan was born in Buffalo, New York, on October 15, 1910. He then began a forty-year period in the faculty at the University of Georgia.

Duncan was married for 64 years (from 1941 until his death) to botanist Marion Bennett Duncan, with whom he collaborated on several books, including Wildflowers of the Eastern United States.

Species described Duncan is the botanical authority who first described three plant species: Quercus oglethorpensis, Trillium persistens, and Baptisia arachnifera. All of these species are endangered.

Associations and honors Duncan was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Partial bibliography Duncan, W. H. 1940. A new species of oak from Georgia. Amer. Midland Naturalist 24: pages 755–756.

Duncan, W. H. 1944. A new species of Baptisia. Rhodora 46: pages 29–31. Duncan, W. H. 1950. Quercus oglethorpensis – range extensions and phylogenetic relationships. Lloydia 13: pages 243–248. Duncan, W. H., J. F. Garst, and G. A. Neece. 1971. Trillium persistens (Liliaceae), a new pedicellate-flowered species form northeastern Georgia and adjacent North Carolina. Rhodora 73: pages 244–248.

Duncan, W. H. 1977. A new species of Galactia (Fabaceae) in the southeastern United States. Phytologia 37: pages 59–61. Duncan, Wilbur H. & John T. Kartesz, Vascular Flora of Georgia: An Annotated Checklist, 1981, UGA Press

Duncan, Wilbur H. & Marion B. Duncan, The Smithsonian Guide to Seaside Plants of the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts, 140 pp, Smithsonian, 1987,