Janaki Ammal

Janaki Ammal Edavalath Kakkat was an Indian botanist who worked on plant breeding, cytogenetics and phytogeography. Her most notable work involved studies on sugarcane and the eggplant (brinjal) but she also worked on the cytogenetics of a range of plants and co-authored the Chromosome Atlas of Cultivated Plants (1945) with C.D. Darlington. She also took an interest in ethnobotany, and took an interest in plants of medicinal and economic value from the rain forests of Kerala, India. She was awarded a Padma Shri by the Indian government in 1977.