Geoffrey Thomas Sandford Baylis (24 November 1913 – 31 December 2003) was a New Zealand botanist and
Emeritus Professor
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
specialising in
plant pathology
Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungus, fung ...
and
mycorrhiza
A mycorrhiza (from Greek μύκης ', "fungus", and ῥίζα ', "root"; pl. mycorrhizae, mycorrhiza or mycorrhizas) is a symbiotic association between a fungus and a plant. The term mycorrhiza refers to the role of the fungus in the plant ...
. He was employed at the
University of Otago
, image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg
, image_size =
, caption = University clock tower
, motto = la, Sapere aude
, mottoeng = Dare to be wise
, established = 1869; 152 years ago
, type = Public research collegiate u ...
for 34 years undertaking research into plant and fungal ecology and symbiotic interactions, taxonomy and anatomy. He collected hundreds of plant specimens in the field and founded the
Otago Regional Herbarium
The Otago Regional Herbarium is a herbarium based at the University of Otago, in Dunedin, in the South Island of New Zealand. It has the herbarium code OTA. It has 72,000 items, making it the second largest herbarium in the South Island.
Histor ...
(OTA). He discovered the sole ''
Pennantia baylisiana
''Pennantia baylisiana'', commonly known as Three Kings kaikōmako or (Māori), is a species of plant in the family Pennantiaceae (Icacinaceae in older classifications). It is endemic to Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, around northwest o ...
'' living on
Three Kings Island in 1945, and was elected as a Fellow of the
Royal Society of New Zealand
Royal may refer to:
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* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
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in 1961.
Early life and education
Baylis was born in Palmerston North to Gerald Baylis, an agricultural scientist, and his wife Daisy (Kathleen Daisy Baylis (nee Aston), sister of New Zealand botanist
Bernard Aston
Bernard Cracroft Aston (9 August 1871 – 31 May 1951), also known as Barney Aston, was New Zealand's first official agricultural chemist and was also a notable botanist. He was born in Beckenham, Kent, England, on 9 August 1871. He was a m ...
).
The family moved to
Campbells Bay
Campbells Bay is a suburb of the North Shore located in Auckland, New Zealand.
The suburb is currently under the local governance of the Auckland Council and is in the Albany ward, one of the thirteen administrative divisions of the city of ...
on Auckland's
North Shore in 1920, where Geoff and his sister Geraldine attended
Takapuna Primary School and were then some of the first students at
Campbells Bay School.
Geoff attended
Takapuna Grammar School
Takapuna Grammar School is a state coeducational secondary school located in the suburb of Belmont on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. Established in 1927, the school mainly serves the eponymous suburb of Takapuna and the entire Devo ...
before enrolling at the
University of Auckland
, mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work
, established = 1883; years ago
, endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021)
, budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021)
, chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant
, vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...
(then Auckland University College) in 1931.
In 1935, he earned his MSc on the ecology of the
mangrove
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...
''Avicennia resinifera'' (now ''
Avicennia marina
''Avicennia marina'', commonly known as grey mangrove or white mangrove, is a species of mangrove tree classified in the plant family Acanthaceae (formerly in the Verbenaceae or Avicenniaceae). As with other mangroves, it occurs in the intertid ...
'' subsp. a''ustralasia'') with a thesis entitled, "Some observations on ''Avicennia officinalis'' Linn in New Zealand".
In 1936, a scholarship enabled Baylis to attend
London Imperial College where he gained his PhD in 1938 in Plant Pathology.
His PhD thesis was entitled, "The influence of certain fungi on the germination of peas; and, A physiological study of the pathogenicity of several species of
Sclerotinia
''Sclerotinia'' is a genus of fungi in the family Sclerotiniaceae. The widely distributed genus contains 14 species.
Taxonomy
A number of species previously assigned to ''Sclerotinia'' are now considered to be members of the closely related genu ...
".
On returning to New Zealand, Baylis joined the
DSIR Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development.
* Department of Scientific and Industria ...
at
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincoln ...
where he researched diseases of
linen flax (''Linum usitatissimum'').
In 1940, he volunteered for the
Royal New Zealand Navy
The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; mi, Te Taua Moana o Aotearoa, , Sea Warriors of New Zealand) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of nine ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act ...
. During his
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
service he served on board the
HMS ''Crocus'' on
Atlantic convoy
''Atlantic Convoy'' is a 1942 American war film directed by Lew Landers. The story follows naval patrols based on the Icelandic coast battling the German U-boats during World War II, and the German efforts to infiltrate their operations with s ...
duty.
Professional life
In 1946, he was appointed Lecturer-in-Charge of Botany at
University of Otago
, image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg
, image_size =
, caption = University clock tower
, motto = la, Sapere aude
, mottoeng = Dare to be wise
, established = 1869; 152 years ago
, type = Public research collegiate u ...
, taking over from the Rev. Dr
J. E. Holloway.
He became first Professor of Botany (1952) and was Head of the Department for 34 years, retiring in 1978.
Based on his numerous plant collections, Baylis founded the
Otago Regional Herbarium
The Otago Regional Herbarium is a herbarium based at the University of Otago, in Dunedin, in the South Island of New Zealand. It has the herbarium code OTA. It has 72,000 items, making it the second largest herbarium in the South Island.
Histor ...
(OTA), which is located at the Botany Department at the University of Otago.
Geoff Baylis' research made several important contributions to our understanding of the role of mycorrhizae, or the symbiotic relationship between plant roots and soil fungi.
His pioneering experiments on
endomycorrhizae in broadleaf (''
Griselinia littoralis
''Griselinia littoralis'', commonly known as kapuka, New Zealand broadleaf or pāpāuma, is a fast-growing small to medium-sized evergreen tree that is native to New Zealand.
Description
''Griselinia littoralis'' is a hardy evergreen shrub th ...
'') showed that seedlings growing in natural soils develop vescicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae by associating with fungi that assist with
phosphorus
Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...
uptake, whereas seedlings that did not develop such mycorrhize stagnated.
Other researchers at the University of Otago (including Baylis and his research students) and elsewhere completed similar studies on other plants thereby extending his early results.
Honours and awards
He was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
in 1961, and attended his last Fellows' AGM on his 90th birthday, as one of the two longest serving living fellows.
He served on the
Otago Museum
Tūhura Otago Museum is located in the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand. It is adjacent to the University of Otago campus in Dunedin North, 1,500 metres northeast of the city centre. It is one of the city's leading attractions and has one of t ...
Trust Board as the University's Representative.
He received the Royal Society's
Hutton Medal
The Hutton Medal is awarded annually by the Royal Society Te Apārangi to a researcher who, working within New Zealand, has significantly advanced understanding through work of outstanding scientific or technological merit.
Requirements
Prior ...
in 1994; he was a foundation and life-long member and President of the
New Zealand Ecological Society
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
; and in 1997 he was elected an Associate of Honour of the
Royal Horticultural Institute of New Zealand.
He also served for many years on the
Catlins Forest Park Advisory Committee.
In 1959, Geoff became one of the three founding Governors of the Hellaby Grasslands Trust, a position he maintained for 42 years.
The annual Geoff Baylis Lecture was established by the
Botanical Society of Otago
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 ...
in 2002 to honour his contributions to the society and field of botany.
Geoff Baylis was the speaker at the inaugural lecture in 2002, and as of 2022 there have been a total of 20 different lectures and speakers in the intervening years.
Eponymy
The following species of plants and fungi have been named in honour of Geoff Baylis:
* The critically endangered tree, ''
Pennantia baylisiana
''Pennantia baylisiana'', commonly known as Three Kings kaikōmako or (Māori), is a species of plant in the family Pennantiaceae (Icacinaceae in older classifications). It is endemic to Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, around northwest o ...
'' (W.R.B.Oliv) G.T.S.Baylis, or Three Kings kaikōmako.
* The
liverwort
The Marchantiophyta () are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of g ...
''
Plagiochila baylisii
''Plagiochila'' is a large, common, and widespread genus of liverworts in the order Jungermanniales. It is a member of the family Plagiochilaceae within that order. There may be anywhere from 500 to 1300 species, most of them from the tropics ...
''
Inoue
Inoue (kanji: , historical kana orthography: ''Winouhe'') is the 16th most common Japanese surname. Historically, it was also romanized as Inouye, and many Japanese-descended people outside of Japan still retain this spelling. A less common vari ...
&
R.M.Schust., which was thought to be endemic to
Fiordland
Fiordland is a geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the westernmost third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lakes, ...
, South Island, New Zealand but is also known from
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
, Australia.
* The critically endangered
secotioid
Secotioid fungi are an intermediate growth form between mushroom-like hymenomycetes and closed bag-shaped gasteromycetes, where an evolutionary process of gasteromycetation has started but not run to completion. Secotioid fungi may or may not ...
fungus ''
Deconica baylisiana'' (
E. Horak) J.A. Cooper (originally described by
Egon Horak
Egon Horak (born Innsbruck in 1937) is an Austrian mycologist who has described more than 1000 species of fungi, including many from the Southern Hemisphere, particularly New Zealand and South America. He was an executive editor of the scientific ...
in 1971 as ''Nivatogastrium baylisianum'' E. Horak).
Family and personal life
In his younger years, Baylis was an avid mountaineer and took part in several climbing trips to the
Southern Alps
The Southern Alps (; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) is a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The name "Southern ...
. In 1965 he and his climbing companions had to be rescued by plane after being trapped by bad weather on the
Volta Glacier
The Volta Glacier is located in Mount Aspiring National Park in the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand.
It is split into upper and lower glaciers which are connected by an icefall. The Upper Volta Glacier is between in altitude an ...
.
Baylis flatted in, and later bought, the historic Dunedin house "Threave" in upper High Street, a
Robert Lawson-designed house which he fully restored, as well as extending the building's woodland surrounds. He became a collector of art and antique silverware and porcelain, and was a regular attendee at classical music concerts.
He also had an extensive garden which contained both native and exotic species.
Geoff remained unmarried throughout his life, but kept close ties with his sister Genevieve Chamberlain and her family. He moved back to Campbells Bay, next door to the original family home (which he had bought and restored for his nephew Geoffrey Chamberlain). He died there on New Year's Eve, 2003, at the age of 90.
Taxon names authored
Geoff Balyis named seven species in four different genera of plants.
* ''
Elingamita'' G.T.S.Baylis
* ''
Elingamita johnsonii'' G.T.S.Baylis
* ''
Pennantia baylisiana
''Pennantia baylisiana'', commonly known as Three Kings kaikōmako or (Māori), is a species of plant in the family Pennantiaceae (Icacinaceae in older classifications). It is endemic to Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, around northwest o ...
'' (W.R.B.Oliv) G.T.S.Baylis
*
''Solanum aviculare'' var. ''latifolium'' G.T.S.Baylis
* ''
Solanum capsiciforme
''Solanum'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, which include three food crops of high economic importance: the potato, the tomato and the eggplant (aubergine, brinjal). It is the largest genus in the nightshade family Solanaceae ...
'' (Domin) G.T.S.Baylis
Selected works
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Image Gallery
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baylis, Geoff
20th-century New Zealand botanists
University of Otago faculty
1913 births
2003 deaths
New Zealand Fellows of the Royal Society
New Zealand conservationists
People from Palmerston North