We record with the regret the death of David Elliston Allen, in July 2023, at the age of 91.

An eminent amateur botanist, David was an early, but not uncritical, supporter of Plant-lore Archive, and a prolific author, who will probably be remembered mainly for his work on the history of British and Irish natural history.  His books on this included The Naturalist in Britain (1978),  The Botanists: A History of  Botanical Society of the British Isles through a Hundred and Fifty Years (1986) and Books and Naturalists (2010).  He also contributed  historical introductions to many local floras, and contributed a great deal to our understanding of British and Irish brambles (Rubus).

With Gabrielle Hatfield he also wrote Medicinal Plants in Folk Tradition: An Ethnobotany of Britain & Ireland (2004), which is frequently cited on this website.