Howard Scott Gentry (December 10, 1903 – April 1, 1993) was an American botanist recognized as the world's leading authority on the agaves.
He spent most of the next twenty years exploring and recording the plant life of northwestern Mexico.
He made botanical field trips to Europe, India and Africa looking for plants that are useful to man.
His 1942 study of the plants of the Río Mayo region of northwestern Mexico became a classic for the extent of its coverage of a previously little-known area.
In addition to purely botanical work, he was interested in ethnobotany, and his plant descriptions include information about their uses by indigenous peoples.