Gillian Sally Bidgood (13 April 1948, in Corbridge – 18 March 2018, in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

) was a British

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 ...

and plant collector noted for her study of the flora of Ethiopia, Zambia, and Tanzania, particularly '' Bignoniaceae''. She attended

Ackworth School Ackworth School is an independent day and boarding school located in the village of High Ackworth, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. It is one of seven Quaker schools in England. The school (or more accurately its Head) is a member ...

(1959-1965), Haydon Bridge Technical School and then Froebel College,

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, in the Putney SW15 postal district, and takes up a far western strip running north to south of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large council house estates and is home to the U ...

. Bidgood worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from 1973 to 2008, and over the course of her career took part in gathering over 13,000 specimens of African plants, describing at least two dozen species. She was also active as a trade unionist, being both a branch secretary and branch chair for

Prospect Prospect may refer to: General * Prospect (marketing), a marketing term describing a potential customer * Prospect (sports), any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team * Prospect (mining ...

at Kew. Coleus sallyae (A.J.Paton) A.J.Paton,

Cyphostemma ''Cyphostemma'' is a flowering plant genus in the family Vitaceae, with around 250 species distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics. These species are caudiciform and used to belong to the genus ''Cissus''. The genus name comes from Gre ...

bidgoodiae Verdc.,

Dyschoriste ''Dyschoriste'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae. Members of the genus are commonly known as snakeherb. Etymology The name comes from the Greek '' δυσ'', ''poorly'', and '' χωριστός'', ''to split'', in referenc ...

sallyae Vollesen, Erythrocephalum sallyae Beentje,

Fuirena ''Fuirena'', called umbrella sedges or umbrella grasses, are a genus of flowering plants in the sedge family (Cyperaceae), with a worldwide distribution, chiefly in the tropics and temperate zones. They are named for Danish physician and early bo ...

bidgoodiae Hoenselaar & Muasya, Pavetta bidgoodiae Bridson are named for her. She was born Gillian Sally Lee, and married Clive Bidgood in 1976 at St Anne's Church, Kew. She retired in 2008 and died on 18 March 2018.

References

1948 births 2018 deaths 21st-century British botanists 20th-century British botanists 20th-century British women scientists British women botanists People from Corbridge Scientists from Northumberland Botanists active in Kew Gardens People educated at Ackworth School Alumni of the University of Roehampton {{UK-botanist-stub