Leslie Andrew Garay

Leslie Andrew Garay (August 6, 1924 – August 19, 2016), born Garay László András, was an American botanist.^[1] He was the curator of the Oakes Ames Orchid Herbarium at Harvard University, where he succeeded Charles Schweinfurth in 1958.^[2] In 1957 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.^[3]

Life and work

Garay was born in Hungary, and after the Second World War he emigrated first to Canada and then to the United States. He was a taxonomist and collector of orchids, particularly interested in the orchids of tropical America and Southeast Asia.^[4]

His ideas were influential in orchid taxonomy,^[5] and he reorganized several genera, including Oncidium.^[4] In addition to reclassification of various species into different genera, he defined a number of new genera including Chaubardiella in 1969 and Amesiella in 1972.

Publications

Among his influential publications were:

• Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated, Galfrid C. K. Dunsterville & Leslie A. Garay, Andre Deutsch, London & Amsterdam, 1959–76, 334 pp. ISBN 0233964118
• Natural & artificial hybrid generic names of orchids, 1887–1965, 1966, Botanical Museum leaflets, Harvard University, 212 pp.
• Flora of the Lesser Antilles: Orchidaceae , 1974, Garay, Los Angeles, HR Sweet, Amer Orchid Soc. ISBN 99941-1-617-7
• Orchids of the Southern Ryukyu Islands, 1974, Leslie A. Garay & Herman R. Sweet, Botanical Museum, Harvard University, 180 pp.
• Orchidaceae, Cypripedioideae, Orchidoideae, Neottioideae, vol. 9 of Flora of Ecuador, NFR, 304 pp.
• Orchids Venezuela, Galfrid C. K. Dunsterville & Leslie A. Garay, 3 volumes, 1979, Publ. Oakes Ames Orchid Herbarium of the Botanical Museum of Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Systematics of the genus Stelis SW, 1979, Harvard University, Botanical Museum leaflets, 259 pp.
• Index to the orchid herbarium of Oakes Ames in the Botanical Museum of Harvard University, 1989, Chadwyck-Healey, 204 pp. ISBN 0-89887-080-1

Legacy

The following plants have been named in his honour:

Genera

• (Orchidaceae) Garayanthus Szlach.^[6]
• (Orchidaceae) Garaya Szlach.^[7]
• (Orchidaceae) Lesliea Seidenf.^[8]

Species

(Orchidaceae) Apatostelis garayi Dunst.[9] (Orchidaceae) Ascocentrum garayi Christenson, 1992[10] (Orchidaceae) Brassia garayana M.W.Chase[11] (Orchidaceae) Cranichis garayana Dodson & R.Vásquez[12] (Orchidaceae) Dendrobium garayanum A.D.Hawkes & A.H.Heller<[13] (Orchidaceae) Diaphananthe garayana Szlach. & Olszewski[14] (Orchidaceae) Epidendrum garayi Lojtnant[15][16] (Orchidaceae) Gongora garayana R.Rice[17][18] (Orchidaceae) Habenaria garayana Szlach. & Olszewski[19]

(Orchidaceae) Lepanthes garayi T.Hashim.[20] (Orchidaceae) Maxillaria garayi D.E.Benn. & Christenson[21] (Orchidaceae) Otoglossum garayanum Szlach. & Kolan.[22] (Orchidaceae) Pabstiella garayi (Pabst) Luer[23][24] (Orchidaceae) Schiedeella garayana R.González[25] (Orchidaceae) Schlimia garayana H.R.Sweet[26] (Orchidaceae) Stelis garayi (Dunst.) Carnevali & I.Ramírez[27] (Orchidaceae) Stigmatosema garayanum Szlach.[28] (Orchidaceae) Sutrina garayi Senghas[29]