Josif Pančić OSS (Serbian Cyrillic: Јосиф Панчић; April 17, 1814 – February 25, 1888) was a Serbian botanist of Croatian descent, doctor, a famous lecturer at the Great School in Belgrade and the first president of the Serbian Royal Academy. Pančić is credited for discovering the new species of conifer – the Serbian Spruce.

He was born as Josip Pančić in Ugrini, near Crikvenica, Croatia (then Austrian Empire), the fourth son of Pavel Pančić and Margarita.After finishing elementary school in Gospić, he went on to the lyceum in Rijeka and graduated in 1842 in Budapest in medicine. In addition to other courses, Pančić attended botany courses, taught by the then renowned botanist Sadler.

He was acquainted with the Serbian linguist Vuk Stefanović Karadžić in Vienna who wrote him a letter of recommendation in to the Serbian authorities in order to fulfill his wish to settle in the then Principality of Serbia.

Pančić worked as a physician in rural Serbia and documented its flora during his frequent visits of the principality. He fell in love with Kopaonik which he visited 16 times between 1851 and 1886. He was credited with having classified many species of plants which were unknown to the botanical community at that time. His most significant discovery was the Serbian Spruce, which he named Pinus omorika (omorika being the Serbian name for a spruce), later being reclassified as Picea omorika (Pančić) Purkyne.