Dr Munivenkatappa Sanjappa did his BSc(Hons.) and MSc (1968-1973) from Central College, Bangalore and PhD (1977)from Maharaja Sayyajirao University, Baroda. Thereafter, he worked on cytology and breeding of Mulberry at Central Sericultural Research & Training Institute, Mysore (1977-1979). He joined Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata where he served in various capacities as scientist in-charge, Flora of India wing (1985-1995), head, Central National Herbarium (1995-2001) and Director (2001-2010). He worked on legumes of India at Royal Botanic Garden, Kew and Edinburgh, The British Museum Natural History and The Linnaean Society, London, The Liverpool Museum, Oxford University Forest Herbarium, Cambridge Botanic Garden Herbarium as INSA-Royal Society Exchange fellow (1992, 1998).He has also worked at Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney, Van Steenis Gebouw,Leiden and various herbaria and gardens of Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Sudan He was CSIR Emeritus Scientist from 2012 – 2015 at Mahatma Gandhi Botanical Garden, University of Agricultural\\r\\n Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru where he continues as INSA Senior Scientist since January 2016.

Academic and Research Achievements: He carried out taxonomic revision of the tribe Indigofereae and Detarieae of Leguminosae, and his consolidation of Indian legumes has formed the basis for the World Legume Database for India and South Asia. Both as author and editor, he was instrumental for Flora India volumes published. Having a good grasp on Indian flora, he was a involved in publishing checklists both for monocots and partly for dicots. He is the only Indian to contribute to World Flora for the families Tetracentraceae, Trochodendroceae and Dipentodontaceae.  He has explored alpine Himalayas, North East India, Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, Deccan plateau, Cold and Hot deserts and tropical islands that has lead him to discover 36 species new to Science, 3 new generic  and 24 new species records from India. He has also explored and collected Legumes in Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Panama, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and UK, to have a wider perspective on the group. He has initiated digitization of specimens, botanical paintings and literature in various herbaria to ease the constraint of their axis to Indian taxonomists and to promote taxonomic research in India. He and his students revised taxonomy of Leguminosae (tribes: Genisteae, Podalyreae, Trifolieae) Ericacea, Aristalochiaceae, Iridaceae and Lamiaceae for Flora of India. He has authored over 150 research papers and 5 books and also edited Flora of India volumes, Fascicles and other related works. He has mentored 10 Ph D scholars. He had guided 5 Summer Fellows of Indian Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru. He has completed taxonomic revision of Smithia Aiton (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae) as CSIR Emeritus Scientist (2012-15) and Taxonomy, conservation status and uses of endemic legumes of Western Ghats as INSA Senior Scientist (2016-2021, 2019 a gap year )

Other Contributions: Dr Sanjappa is a member of several scientific societies and served as Steering Committee member of Species Plantarum Project: World Flora and on Pan-Himalayan Flora project and served as an expert on several national committees of DST, DBT, CSIR, MoEFCC, MoNCER, selection panels of various Institutes and Universities. He is on editorial board of Current Science, Rheedea, Nelumbo, Indian Journal of Forestry and reviews articles for several International /National Scientific Journals. He has also served as Chairman of Research Committees of JNTBGRI, member of Research Committees of NBRI, BSIP, and IBSD. He is also member, Karnataka Biodiversity Board; Expert member, Access & Benefit Sharing (ABS) Committee, National Biodiversity Authority, Chennai. He was member of the Indian delegation in CITES and medicinal Plant conferences.

Awards and Honours: Dr Sanjappa was conferred the prestigious E. K. Janaki Ammal National Award for Plant Taxonomy (2007) by Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India Karnataka Rajyostava State Award 2017. Sir M. Visvesvaraya Senior Scientist’s State Award 2013 both by Government of Karnataka, Prof. Panchanan Maheshwari Medal for the year (2005) by Indian Botanical Society. Dr H Santapau Medal for the year (2005) by Association of Plant Taxonomy. Dr. G. Panigrahi Commemoration Award for  outstanding contributions in Plant   Taxonomy (2004) by Botanical Society of Bengal. Prof. Y D Thyagi Gold Medal for Senior Taxonomist (2018) and Dr. V. V. Sivarajan Gold Medal as the best Taxonomist (2000) by Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy. He was elected Vice President and President of the Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy and Fellow of the Indian BotanicalSociety, Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy, Association for Plant taxonomy, Association for Plant taxonomy. Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (1999), Bangalore and National Academy of Sciences, India (2002), Allahabad.