John Percival FLS (1863–1949) was an English botanist and professor of agricultural botany, known for his research on the genera Triticum and Aegilops, as well as the taxonomy of wheat.
British embassies and consular posts in wheat-growing countries were asked to obtain samples of ears and seeds representing the kinds of wheat grown in them.
Starting around 1927, Percival received numerous desiccated or carbonised samples of cereal grains from tombs or other archaeological sites in Egypt, the Near East, and western Asia.
[8] According to Laura A. Morrison, the modern era of wheat taxonomy began with three works: Die Geschichte der Kultivierten Getreide (1913)[9] by August Schulz (1862–1922), Neuere Wege und Ziele der botanischen Systematik, erläutert am Beispiele unserer Getreidearten (1913) by Albert Thellung, and The Wheat Plant (1921) by Percival.
[10] On the 12th and 13 July 1999, the University of Reading's School of Plant Sciences, in collaboration with the Linnean Society, held a symposium to celebrate Percival's life and work.
Percival was the consummate agricultural scientist — botanist, taxonomist, geneticist, germplasm collector, curator, breeder, agronomist, historian and teacher.