author
Norman Taylor
1883–1967
Best known for the classic reference Taylor’s Encyclopedia of Gardening, this botanist and garden writer helped make plant knowledge practical and approachable for everyday readers.
1 Audiobook
Botany: The Science of Plant Life
by Norman Taylor
About the author
Born in Hereford, England, in 1883, he became an English-American botanist whose work connected scientific botany with popular gardening. Archival material from the New York Botanical Garden identifies him as the author of Taylor’s Encyclopedia of Gardening, the book for which he is chiefly remembered.
The same sources note that he also worked as a botanical editor for Webster’s New International Dictionary around 1945 and for the American Heritage Dictionary around 1960. In addition to reference and gardening books, he wrote on plants more broadly, including an early popular book about psychoactive plants.
He died in 1967. His lasting reputation rests on the way he translated specialist plant knowledge into clear, useful guidance for gardeners, readers, and general reference works.