Kai Larsen

Kai Larsen

Kai Larsen (15 November 1926 in Hillerød – 23 August 2012)^[1] was a Danish botanist.

Kai Larsen was professor of botany (Emeritus from 1-12-1996) at Århus University, Denmark. He was the Danish editor of Flora Nordica, editor of Flora of Thailand, advisor to Flora of China and executive member of Flora Malesiana.

He was a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.^[2] and the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.

Research

• SE Asian flora region, particularly Thailand, Malaysia and Indo-China. Revisions of several families e. g. Caesalpiniaceae, Caryophyllaceae, and Lowiaceae for several of the regional floras.
• Zingiberaceae for Flora of Thailand and Flora Malesiana.

Eponymous species

Some plants are named in recognizing his contribution to studying Asian flora:

Genera

• Kailarsenia fragrant plant from the family Rubiaceae can be found in Southeast Asia.^[4]
• Larsenaikia once endemic Australian species of Gardenia in the family Rubiaceae^[4]
• The generic name Kaisupeea B.L. Burtt (Gesneriaceae) honours Kai and Supee Larsen.

Species

• Burmannia larseniana D.X.Zhang & R.M.K.Saunders (Burmanniaceae)
• Bauhinia larsenii Y.F. Chen & D.X. Zhang, fossil Leguminosae from southern China^[5]
• Caulokaempferia larsenii Suksathan & Triboun
• Cornukaempferia larsenii Saensouk, Theerakulpisut, & Chantaranothai^[6]
• Curcuma larsenii C. Maknoi & T. Jenjittikul^[7]
• Impatiens larsenii T. Shimizu^[8]
• Kaempferia larsenii Sirirugsa
• Mouretia larsenii Tange
• Zingiber larsenii Theilade

References

1. In memoriam: Kai Larsen (2012). Species New to Science. Retrieved 2012-11-13.
2. "Gruppe 5: Biologi" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
3. "Author Query for 'K.Larsen'". International Plant Names Index.
4. Tirvengadum, D. D. 1993. Larsenaikia, a new genus of the Rubiaceae from Australia. Nordic J. Bot. 13:175–184. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-1051.1993.tb00034.x
5. Chen, Y. F. & Zhang, D. X. 2005 Bauhinia larsenii, a fossil legume from Guangxi. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 147: 437-440. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2005.00373.x
6. Saensouk, P., Theerakulpisut, P., & Chantaranothai, P. 2007. Cornukaempferia larsenii sp. nov. (Zingiberaceae): a new species from Thailand. The Natural History of Chulalongkorn University. 7: 169–173.
7. Maknoi, C. (2006). A new species of Curcuma L. (Zingiberaceae) from Southeast Asia. In: Gardens' Bulletin (Singapore) 58(1): 41-46, ISSN 0374-7859, CODEN GABUAV.
8. Shimizu, T. 1977. Some addition notes on Impatiens (Balsaminaceae) of Thailand. Acta Phytotax. Geobot. 28 (1-3): 31-34.