Perring, Franklyn

Franklyn Hugh Perring PhD, OBE (1 August 1927 – 11 October 2003) was a British naturalist, regarded as "one of the most influential botanists and nature conservationists of the 20th century". Perring authored or co-edited over a dozen floras, conservation articles and wild flower guides, but is best known as joint editor of the Atlas of the British Flora. This was a landmark publication, produced for the Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI) in 1962, and which laid the groundwork for future national and local biological recording schemes across Britain. Perring was head of the national Biological Records Centre based at Monks Wood from 1964 to 1978. In the late 1970s he was instrumental in initiating the move towards the creation of smaller, more regional biological records centres across the UK. He also played a key role in the development of the modern Wildlife Trust movement.