Ira Schreiber Nelson (1911–1965) was an American botanist, working in Louisiana.
His interests were iris and camellias, two major flowers native to south Louisiana.
He died suddenly in an automobile accident in 1965.
[1] Lowell Randolph (a Cornell University botany professor) had collaborated with Ira S. "Ike" Nelson since 1942, after the first show of the 'Society for Louisiana Irises' was held.
[2][3] Iris nelsonii was then first published and described by Randolph in 'Baileya' (a Quarterly Journal of Horticultural Taxonomy of Ithaca, New York) 14: 150 in 1966.