Paul Thomson (botanist)

Paul Thomson (June 29, 1916 – May 31, 2008) was an American exotic fruit enthusiast, self-taught horticulturist and botanist, fruit farmer, and the co-founder of the California Rare Fruit Growers Association, a group of amateur horticulturists which now has more than 3,000 members in approximately 35 countries. Thomson is credited with helping to expand the farming of exotic fruits in California – everything from cherimoyas to longans to pitahayas. Thomson also wrote one of the few literary treatments of the genus Dudleya, and was an avid collector of the plants.