E.K. Janaki Ammal

Indian botanist who advanced plant genetics while challenging colonial science policies

Edavalath Kakkat Janaki Ammal (1897–1984), India's first female plant PhD, revolutionized sugarcane breeding through chromosome studies. Her work at London's John Innes Centre in the 1930s created high-yield hybrid canes, crucial for India's sugar independence from colonial imports.

Ammal's 1945 chromosome atlas of medicinal plants remains foundational. As Director-General of the Botanical Survey of India (1952), she fought to protect biodiversity against commercial plantations, preserving the Western Ghats forests through ecological activism.

Her 1970 book The Chromosome Numbers of Flowering Plants challenged Eurocentric botanical classifications. The Hindu noted her role in establishing tropical cytogenetics. Despite gender and caste barriers, Ammal became the Royal Horticultural Society's first non-white female fellow (1945).