Donald Frederick Blaxell (born 1 February 1934, Sydney, New South Wales), is an Australian

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

, botanical collector and

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

. Blaxell worked at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

for 11 years and joined the New south Wales Herbarium in 1968. He was particularly interested in plants from family ''

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

'' and the genus ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

''. He worked extensively with

Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson FAA, (26 June 1925 – 1 August 1997) known as Lawrie Johnson, was an Australian taxonomic botanist. He worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, for the whole of his professional career, as a botanist (1948 ...

through the 1960s completing descriptions of many species. He was also an avid collector, particularly ''Eucalyptus'' species, usually with Johnson or L D. Pryor. Blaxell was appointed as the

Australian Botanical Liaison Officer Australian Botanical Liaison Officer was a secondment position, held for up to twelve months by an Australian botanist (or expert in Australian botany) at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, England in the United Kingdom. The position was c ...

at Kew Gardens between 1974 and 1975. In 2001, he was awarded an OAM in the Australia Day honours.Uniken (2001) 1: ''UNSW people honoured''
/ref> '' Eucalyptus blaxellii'' was named in his honour by L.A.S.Johnson & K.D. Hill in 1992.

Selected works

*''Contributions from the New South Wales Herbarium'' *''The Orchids of Australia - the Eastern Temperate Zone'', 1971 *Blaxell, D F. 1975. ''The Status of Schlechter's Specimens of Orchidaceae held at the National Herbarium of New South Wales - 2. New Caledonia, Celebes, Borneo, Sumatra'', 1975. '' Telopea'' 1(1). S. 49–54 *Rotherham, E R; B G Briggs; D F Blaxell; R C Carolin. ''Australian Flora in Colour: Flowers and Plants of New South Wales and Southern Queensland.'' Together with E. R. Rotherham, B. G. Biggs und R. C. Carolin. Publisher: A.H. & A.W. Reed, Sydney 1975 *''Notes on Australian Orchidaceae - a new combination in Liparis'', 1978. ''Telopea'' 1(5). S. 357–358 *''Type Specimens of Schlechter's Names in Orchidaceae at the Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques, Geneve'', 1978. ''Telopea'' 1(5). S. 359–363 *''A new Species of Stylidium (Stylidiaceae) from the Sydney Region'', 1978. Together with M. M. Hindmarsh. ''Telopea ''1(5). S. 365–370 *''Flowers & Plants of New South Wales & Southern Queensland.'' Together with E. R. Rotherham, B. G. Briggs and R. C. Carolin. Publisher: Reed Books, Sydney 1979, 192 S., 556 farbige Abbildungen *''New Taxa and Combinations in Eucalyptus-4'', 1980. Together with L. A. S. Johnson. Telopea 1(6). S. 395–397 *''The Orchidaceae of German New Guinea. Incorporating the Figure Atlas.'' Together with R. S. Rogers, H. J. Katz und J. T. Sommons. Melbourne, Australian Orchid Foundation, Melbourne 1982.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blaxell, Donald Frederick 20th-century Australian botanists Australian taxonomists 1934 births Botanists active in Australia 21st-century Australian botanists Living people Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Australian Botanical Liaison Officers