Arthur Cronquist; Devised System of Classifying Plants

Arthur Cronquist, 73, creator of a system of plant classification. Cronquist, a senior scientist at the New York Botanical Garden, developed a system to organize roughly 350 families of plants by their evolutionary relationships. The system is outlined in his book “The Evolution and Classification of Flowering Plants,” published in 1968. He also wrote the “Manual of Vascular Plants of the Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada.” Cronquist taught at the University of Georgia and the State College of Washington, now Washington State University, before becoming director of botany at the botanical garden. He was later named senior scientist. In New York City on Sunday of a heart attack.