Oleg Polunin
Oleg Vladimirovitch Polunin was an English botanist, teacher and traveller. He was one of three sons to the artists Vladimir and Elizabeth Polunin. All three sons were interested in the natural sciences: Nicholas Polunin was an arctic explorer and environmentalist, and Ivan Polunin was a medical doctor, photographer and ethnographist.
Educated at Magdalen College, Oxford in biology faculty, Oleg Polunin taught at Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey, for over 30 years, later devoting his time to writing popular and authoritative guides to the flora of Europe and the Himalaya. His most well-known work is Flowers of Europe, a classic text for both botanists and general readers. Polunin travelled widely in pursuit of samples and photographs, and he discovered several new species.
He was awarded the Linnean Society’s H. H. Bloomer Award in 1983.Selected books
- Flowers of the Mediterranean
- Flowers of Europe: a field guide
- A Concise Flowers of Europe
- Flowers of South West Europe
- Trees and Bushes of Europe
- Flowers of Greece and the Balkans
- Flowers of the Himalaya
- A Guide to the Vegetation of Britain and Europe
- Concise Flowers of the Himalaya
- Collins Photoguide to Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe
