Raven, Peter H(amilton) (1936– )

US botanist. An authority on plant taxonomy, especially of the fuschia family, he also made major contributions to the ethnobotany of Mayan Mexico, coevolution of both plants and animals, and population ecology. He was an outspoken advocate of conservation of rainforests. He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1985 for his life's work.

Born in Shanghai, the son of a US businessman temporarily in China, he grew up in the USA. He was a National Science fellow at the British Museum of Natural History 1960–61, a taxonomist and curator at the Rancho Santa Ana Botantical Garden 1961–62, and at Stanford 1962–71. He became Engelmann professor of botany at Washington University, St Louis, and director of the Missouri Botanical Garden in 1971.