OBITUARY James F. Maxwell: Classic Field Botanist, Inimitable Character Edward L. Webb 1 , Lahiru S. Wijedasa 1 , Ida Theilade 2 , Felix Merklinger 3 , Martin van de Bult 4 , Robert Steinmetz 5 , and Warren Y. Brockelman 6 1 Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 14 Science Drive 4, 117543 Singapore 2 Forest and Landscape, Univ. of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, DK-1958 Frb, C. Denmark 3 Singapore Botanic Gardens, 1 Cluny Road, 259569 Singapore 4 Doi Tung Development Project, Social Development Department, 920 M 7 Mae Fah Luang, A. Mae Fah Luang, Chiang Rai, 57240 Thailand 5 WWF Thailand, 92/2 Soi Paholyothin 5, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand 6 Ecology Lab, Bioresources Technology Unit, BIOTEC, 113 Science Park, Klong 1, Klong Luang, Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand ON 12 MAY 2015, THE WORLD LOST A ONE-OF-A-KIND TROPICAL BOTANIST WHEN JAMES F. MAXWELL PASSED AWAY in Rayong Pro- vince, Thailand, doing what he did best: collecting botanical spec- imens. Max—as he was known to everyone—was a New York- born American of Irish descent who graduated from Ohio State University in 1967. In 1969 he was stationed in Thailand while in the U.S. Army Military Police corps. He remained in Southeast Asia, permanently establishing in Thailand with the exception of an 8-year hiatus in Singapore (1976–1984) where he obtained an M.Sc. degree in botany at the National University of Singapore, and to serve as a curator of the herbarium at the Singapore Bota- nic Gardens. Over his 45-year career, Max helped establish her- baria at Prince of Songkla University, Bangkok Biotech, Chiang Mai University Pharmacy and Chiang Mai University Biology herbarium (CMUB). Today, CMUB is the third largest herbarium in Thailand, containing upwards of 40,000 specimens, the vast majority of which are the result of Max’ s individual research efforts or as a botanical expert on numerous projects requiring floristic surveys. He was widely regarded as one of the best bota- nists in continental SE Asia. He was an expert on the Melastom- ataceae, and revised numerous genera in the family. Background research by one of us (LSW) indicates that he described at least 184 new species and varieties of plants in his career. Much of his fieldwork was conducted in forest habitats that were poorly col- lected but rapidly disappearing in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. His botanical surveys were published in various forms including taxonomy notes and new species records, but he was perhaps best known for his vascular floras, and taxonomy-based vegeta- tion descriptions (e.g., Maxwell 1974, 1995, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2009a,b, Maxwell et al. 1995, 1997, Maxwell & Elliott 2001). Importantly, Maxwell led efforts to reconcile the numerous accounts of vegetation in Thailand, and develop a synthetic vege- tation classification for the Kingdom (Maxwell 2004). Of course, his fieldwork amassed a huge inventory of specimens, which he shared with overseas herbaria. His specimen-numbering system makes it difficult to calculate exactly how many specimens he col- lected. But having collected for 45 years and anywhere from 600 to >1000 specimens per year it is clear that he was one of the ‘big hitters’ (sensu Bebber et al. 2012), contributing tens of thou- sands of specimens to herbaria around the world including Thai- land, Cambodia, Kew, Leiden, Paris, Harvard, Aarhus, California Academy of Sciences, Singapore, and Edinburgh (Fig. 1). Maxwell’ s passing leaves a major void that will be difficult to fill. He was a classically trained and active field-based botanist, a member of an already small but essential scientific community that appears to be on the decline (Prather et al. 2004). In the sev- eral decades that we knew him, Maxwell was outspoken in his concern about the declining value placed on field botany and the associated loss of ‘competent’ taxonomists. His Vascular Flora of Ko Hong Hill, Songkla Province, Thailand (Maxwell 2006) is the first complete flora of a location in Thailand (describing all 637 FIGURE 1. James F. Maxwell (1945–2015) pressing a specimen of Aglaia lawii (Wight) Sald. ex Rama. (Max coll. No 15–70) in Samkos Wildlife Reserve, Cambodia on his 70th birthday, 9 March, 2015. (Photograph by Ida Theilade). 132 ª 2016 The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation BIOTROPICA 48(1): 132–133 2016 10.1111/btp.12299