- Charles Gardner
Charles Austin Gardner (
6 January 1896 –24 February 1970 ) was aWestern Australia nbotanist .Born in Lancaster,
England on6 January 1896 , he emigrated to Western Australia with his family in 1909.He showed an interest in
art andbotany from youth, and was appointed a botanical collector for the Forests Department in 1920. The following year he was appointed botanist to theKimberley Exploration Expedition , resulting in his first botanical publication, "Botanical Notes, Kimberley Division of Western Australia", in which twenty newspecies were described. In 1924 he transferred to the Department of Agriculture, and following a departmental re-organisation in 1928 he was appointed Government Botanist and Curator of the StateHerbarium .He travelled widely and published around 320 papers, the most important of which were in which were "Contributions to the Flora of Western Australia" in "Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia" (from 1923), "Enumeratio Plantarum Australiae Occidentalis" (1930) and "Flora of Western Australia Volume 1, Part 1, Gramineae" (1952). He described eight genera and about 200 new species. In 1937 he became the first
Australian Botanical Liaison Officer at theRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew .He was awarded the Medal of the
Royal Society of Western Australia in 1949.He retired in 1962, and died from
diabetes atSubiaco, Western Australia on24 February 1970 , aged 74. His personal botanical collection was bequeathed to theBenedictine Community at New Norcia, but was transferred to the State Herbarium in Perth in June 1970.References
*cite book | first = Norman | last = Hall | year = 1978 | title = Botanists of the Eucalypts | location = Australia | publisher =
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization | id=ISBN 0-643-00271-5
*cite web | title = Gardner, Charles A. (1869 - 1970) | url = http://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/gardner-charles.html | publisher = Australian National Botanic Gardens | accessdate=2006-08-04Publications
* (with H.W. Bennetts), (1956) "The Toxic Plants of Western Australia", Perth, West Australian Newspapers.
Further reading
* (1996) "Description of botanist's work (Gardner, C. A.)" Wildflower Society of Western Australia newsletter, Vol 34, no. 4, p.15-18
Persondata
NAME=Gardner, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Gardner, Charles Austin
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Australian botanist
DATE OF BIRTH=6 January 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH=Lancaster,England
DATE OF DEATH=24 February 1970
PLACE OF DEATH=Subiaco, Western Australia
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