Garner, W. W.

Garner, W. W. (Wightman Wells)

(1875–1956) botanist; born in Timmonsville, S.C. He was an instructor and research assistant at Tufts (1900–03), then joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture (1904–45), where he performed landmark research on the pathology and mineral nutrition of tobacco. While investigating a strain of Maryland mammoth tobacco, he and codiscoverer Harry Allard observed that the length of day is a major regulator of a plant's growth and flowering (1920); Garner named this fundamental principle of botany "photoperiodism."