James Stirton (1833 – 14 January 1917) was a Scottish physician and one of Scotland's leading experts on cryptogamic botany.
Stirton taught mathematics from 1856 to 1858 at the Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh.
In 1889 he became a professor of midwifery at Anderson's College Medical School[2][5] and held the professorship for about fifteen years.
[2] Stirton made many visits to the Scottish mountains to investigate lichens and mosses and there discovered numerous species that were previously undescribed.
[4] Stirton, along with John Stevenson, wrote an obituary for botanist Thomas King upon his death in 1896.