Koyapillil Mathai Mathew (1930–2004) : A Man of God & a Taxonomist of the Palani Hills
Popularly known as K.M. Mathew, is both a man of faith and a well-known botanical scientist. He brought out a modern, illustrated regional flora of South India. He carried out extensive field work in four zones. The first zone covered the vegetation of the plains and low altitude hills (<400 m) including eight out of nine tribal belts of Tamil Nadu State. This was published as The Flora of the Tamil Nadu Carnatic (1981, 1982, 1983, and 1988), which contains 1905 plates and 2,939 pages of detailed text. A total of 2,020 species was covered in this work. In the second zone, a similar illustrated flora covered the montane region of the Palni hills, published as The Flora of the Palni Hills (1996–99; three volumes in five parts) with 1,233 plates of illustrations and 2,144 pages of text covering 2,478 species.
Mathew had covered virtually the entire Deccan Plateau, which today is one of the botanically best-known regions in India. These volumes have received international acclaim for their comprehensive field coverage, detailed illustrations, updated nomenclature, and thorough treatment of each species. Field floras, also called excursion floras first in English, later in the local language, Tamil, were aimed at delivery of knowledge of plants to ordinary people.
The belief was that teaching local people to recognize the plants around them is essential for involving them in nature conservation and eco-restoration. Just before his untimely death, Matthew was planning a six-volume illustrated Flora of North Tamil Nadu, completely revising the Carnatic series and extending to the border of Andhra State for more adequate field coverage. His mammoth publications include more than twelve volumes and 175 research papers. He had completed twenty-one major research projects funded by leading international and national agencies supporting peninsular floristics and environmental education. While reviewing his Materials for a Flora of the Tamilnadu Carnatic (1981), Radcliff-Smith remarked, “This is a most commendable project and the complete work will undoubtedly become a valuable reference, for although by no means covering such a large area as Gamble’s Flora of Madras, it will nevertheless have dealt with the Flora of the area chosen in much greater depth and detail.” Mathew described four new species, one subspecies, and proposed quite a few new combinations. A new species, Strobilanthes matthewiana, was named in his honor. He helped many botanists by providing Latin translations for new taxa.
Matthew carried out extensive field work in Tamil Nadu and collected more than 5,000 species which were described in Floras. He composed a modern, illustrated regional flora of South India. These Floras received international acclaim for their comprehensive field coverage, detailed illustrations, updated nomenclature, and thorugh treatment of each species. He had covered virtually the entire Decan platea, which today is one of the botanically best known region in India. He had completed 21 major research projects funded by leading international and national agencies supporting peninsular floristic and Environmental education
“The most productive Indian taxonomist ever”, was the comment of a referee for his election as a Foreign Member of the Linnean Society of London. He spent 1,449 days in the field and made 60,644 collections. This intimate knowledge of plants in the field was invaluable in planning conservation research. He had been a member of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission for plants for the Indian subcontinent since 1992. Foregoing an opportunity to remain international with his revision of Cornaceae for the prestigious Flora Malesiana at Leiden, Netherlands (the only Indian contributor to date) in 1972, he returned home and evolved a modern, illustrated regional Flora of Southern India as a primary programme, since all the three previous Floras (Hooker & al. 1872–1897; Gamble & Fischer 1915–1936; Fyson 1932) were outdated. To improve the botanical knowledge of the region, he extensively carried out field work in four zones. This effort resulted in a four-volume The Flora of Tamilnadu Carnatic 1981, 1982, 1983 & 1988, which contained 1905 plates and 2939 pages of detailed text. A total of 2020 species was covered in this work.
Thus, K.M. Matthew, S.J. (1930-2004) carried out extensive fieldwork in Tamil Nadu and collected more than 5,000 species which were described in Floras. He composed a modern, illustrated regional flora of South India. These Floras received international acclaim for their comprehensive field coverage, detailed illustrations, updated nomenclature, and thorough treatment of each species. He had covered virtually the entire Deccan plateau, which today is one of the botanically best known regional in India. He had completed 21 major research projects funded by leading international and national agencies supporting peninsular floristic studies and environmental education. He was given a prestigious award by the Government of India for his environmental work.
His scientific life is deeply rooted in his faith in God and in his Jesuit charism of “finding God in all things and all things in God.”
- kuru@xlri.ac.in
Kuruvilla Pandikattu SJ
