Hugo Marie de Vries (Haarlem, 16 February 1848 – Lunteren, 21 May 1935) was a Dutch botanist and one of the first geneticists. He suggested the concept of genes, rediscovered Gregor Mendel's laws of heredity, and introduced the term "mutation". He developed a mistaken mutation theory of evolution, mainly due to the peculiarities of his favourite organism, the Evening Primrose ("Oenothera lamarckiana").