Herbert John Webber

Herbert John Webber (December 27, 1865 – January 18, 1946) was an American plant physiologist who was born in Lawton, Michigan and grew up on a farm in Marshalltown, Iowa, originally wanting to be a lawyer. In 1889 he graduated from the University of Nebraska. For the United States Department of Agriculture he investigated orange diseases in Florida (1893–1897) and from 1889 to 1907 had charge of the department's plant-breeding investigations. He served as professor of experimental plant biology at Cornell (1907–1908), where subsequently he was acting director (1909–1910 and Professor of Plant Breeding (1910–1912) in Cornell University's New York State College of Agriculture. In 1912 he went to the University of California to be director of the Citrus Experiment Station, dean of the Graduate School of Tropical Agriculture, and professor of plant breeding. With Swingle he originated citranges, a hardy citrous fruit, by hybridization. He retired from active service in 1936.

Herbert J. Webber coined the word “clone” in 1903 and was the first to use it to describe a colony of organisms derived asexually from a single progenitor. Webber’s contribution to “a more exact expression to our thoughts” found quick acceptance among scientists.

He was on the editorial board of the famous work The Citrus Industry which is now in public domain.

The standard author abbreviation Webber is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.