Bessey, Charles Edwin (1845-1915), an American botanist, was an influential teacher whose ideas on plant structure form the basis of modern plant taxonomy (classification). From studies of fossil remains of different geological ages, he established the order in which some plant structures had evolved. The “family tree” he created proposed new relationships between families of flowering plants.
Bessey was born on May 21, 1845, in Milton, Ohio. He taught botany at the University of Nebraska. He died on Feb. 25, 1915.
