Theophrastus

Theophrastus was a student of Aristotle whom Aristotle appointed his successor as leader of the Lyceum in Athens around 313 BCE, presiding over the school for some thirty-five years. His Historia Plantarum, nine books on plant anatomy, trees, seeds and cultivation, and De Causis Plantarum, six books on plant growth, propagation and disease, together classified more than five hundred plant species by observable traits such as leaf and fruit structure. The two works had no equal in scope or sophistication until the sixteenth century, and Theophrastus is traditionally called the father of botany for them.