Annals of Botany

History

Annals of Botany was established in 1887 by Isaac Bayley Balfour (Sir Isaac from 1920) and Sydney Howard Vines with support from eight other prominent botanists of the time including Sir Francis Darwin and William Turner Thiselton-Dyer (Sir William from 1899). An extensive collection of letters, minutes and accounts covering the first 125 years of the Journal's existence has been archived as the Annals of Botany Papers at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. A two-part history has been published based on this archive. Former Chief Editors (or equivalent) and their sometimes overlapping periods of office are as follows:

• Sydney Howard Vines FRS, 1887–1900;
• Dunkinfield Henry Scott FRS, 1900–1912;
• Sir John Bretland Farmer FRS, 1912–1921;
• Vernon Herbert Blackman FRS, 1921–1947;
• William Harold Pearsall FRS 1948–1964;
• John (Jack) Heslop-Harrison FRS, 1961–1967;
• James Frederick Sutcliffe, 1967–1983;
• John A. Bryant, 1983–1984;
• John Anthony Abbott, 1983–1984;
• David Frederick Cutler, 1984-1990;
• Roderick Hunt, 1990–1996;
• Michael Barson Jackson, 1996–2008;
• John Seymour (Pat) Heslop-Harrison, 2008–2020.

There was an earlier periodical Annals of Botany edited by Carl Dietrich Eberhard König (Charles Konig) and John Sims which started in 1804 and published two volumes before ceasing.