Chit Ko Ko

Chit Ko Ko (Burmese: ချစ်ကိုကို, [tɕʰɪʔ kò kò]; 1917-2008) was a noted Myanmar botanist. He produced a number of papers into botanical research he conducted in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. His 1961 paper on List of Trees and Shrubs, co-written with H. G Hundley, identified some 7,000 angiosperms in Burma.

In 1951, Chit Ko Ko also met Francis Kingdon-Ward and conducted further research into plants in Myanmar. Chit Ko Ko was only 26 years old at the time and was the curator of the herbarium in Rangoon. Along with another Burmese botanist, Tha Hla, they set off on an expedition and reached Hkinlum in several days in the alpine region where they could expect to find hardy plants. During the expedition Chit Ko Ko was reported to have caught a bad chill and had to be rubbed back to warmth. Nevertheless, the expedition was a success and the team collected 37 species of Rhododendrons and nearly 100 other species and 1400 herbarium specimens, including the epiphytic lilly Lilium arboricola and Lonicera hildebrandiana, a honeysuckle with huge flowers.

An obituary of Chit Ko Ko entitled Obituary of a Botanist: U Chit Ko Ko has been written by David Sayers, in some 1260 words and published in March 2009.