Charles Christopher Parry

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Charles Christopher Parry (28 August 1823 – 20 February 1890) was a British-American botanist and mountaineer.

Parry was born in Gloucestershire, England, but moved to the United States with his parents in 1832, settling first in New York. He studied medicine at Columbia University, and botany under John Torrey, Asa Gray and George Engelmann.

He moved to Davenport, Iowa in 1846 where he practiced as a doctor for a short time before joining the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey (1848–1855) as surgeon and botanist. He made extensive plant collections along the U.S.-Mexico border in California, and later in Colorado, Utah and other western states, many of which proved to be new species.

Important plants he discovered include the Torrey Pine and Engelmann Spruce, which he named in honour of his mentors. Several plants are also named after him, including the Parry Pinyon, and also Parry Peak (4,082 m / 13,391 feet) in Colorado.

His archive is held at Iowa State University.

The standard botanical author abbreviation Parry is applied to plants he described.