Hugh Shaw MacKee previously known as Hugh Shaw McKee (1912 – 1995) was a

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 ...

who was born in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, but who collected in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

, and finally in

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, where together with his wife and other collaborators, he collected over 46,000 specimens.

Education

Hugh Shaw McKee (later Hugh Shaw MacKee) earned a Bachelor of Botany in 1935 from the University of Belfast, and his doctorate in Plant Physiology in 1938 from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Work

From 1935 to 1938 he worked in London for the South African Co-operative Deciduous Fruit Exchange. He left Europe in 1938 for

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Queensland, in Australia, to work in the Queensland Department of Agriculture. In 1940 he was recruited by the

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...

and with the defeat of the Japanese in New Guinea, he was seconded to the Tropical Scientific Section of the Australian Army to work in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

. From 1954 to 1956 he was seconded to the

South Pacific Commission The Pacific Community (PC), formerly the South Pacific Commission (SPC), is an international development organisation governed by 27 members, including 22 Pacific island countries and territories. The organisation's headquarters are in Nouméa, ...

with headquarters in Noumea, from where he made many collecting expeditions (Samoa, Fiji, the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. He was seconded to the FAO in

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

, Burma. Still employed by CSIRO, he collected for nine months in tropical America. (Possibly) later, he was worked in the Botany Department of

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...

. In 1954-55 he went to New Guinea to look into food and nutrition problems. In 1964 he was recruited by the

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

to work in

, where he remained for the rest of his life, collecting and working, and it was there he changed his name from McKee to MacKee to make it easier for French speakers to know how to say his name.

Publications

Books

* 1985
''Les Plantes introduites et cultivees en Nouvelle-Caledonie : supplement a la Flore de la Nouvelle-Caledonie et Dependances (volume hors-serie)'' Paris, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle
* 1984. Morat, P., J.-M. Veillon, J.-M., Mackee, H.S. (Conference Proceedings
''Floristic relationships of New Caledonian rain forest phanerogams''
Association of Systematics Collections and the Bernice P. Bishop Museum. *1981 (with M.E. MacKee
''E. Vieillard et E. Deplanche, deux grands botanistes collecteurs en Nouvelle-Calédonie''
* 1969
''A list of vascular plants occurring on Black Mountain and environs : Canberra, A.C.T.'' M. Gray and H.S. McKee. Melbourne, C.S.I.R.O.
*1967. Aubréville, A., Leroy, J.F., Morat, P., & MacKee, H.S. ''Flore de la Nouvelle-Calédonie et dépendances''. * 1962. (as Hugh Shaw McKee
''Nitrogen metabolism in plants.'' Oxford, Clarendon Press.
* 1954
''Australian and New Zealand botany'', J.McLuckie and H.S.McKee. Sydney : Associated General Publications.

Articles

*Morat, P., Veillon, J.M., & MacKee, H.S. (1984). ''Floristic relationships of New Caledonian rain forest phanerogams'' (pp. 71–128). Association of Systematics Collections and the Bernice P. Bishop Museu
PDF ''Telopea'' 2(6): 631-679 (1986)
*Jaffré, T., Morat, P., Veillon, J. M., & MacKee, H.S. (1987). ''Changements dans la végétation de la Nouvelle-Calédonie au cours du Tertiaire: la végétation et la flore des roches ultrabasiques''
Adansonia, 4, 365-391.
*Morat, P., Jaffré, T., Veillon, J.M., & MacKee, H.S. (1986). ''Affinités floristiques et considérations sur l’origine des maquis miniers de la Nouvelle-Calédonie.'
Adansonia, 2, 133-182.

Names published

(incomplete list)Plant name search: MacKee.
International Plant Names Index, 2005.] Retrieved 14 February 2019 *'' Terminalia cherrieri'' MacKee Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., B, Adansonia Sér. 4, 6(2): 116. 1984 *''

Grevillea evansiana ''Grevillea evansiana'', commonly known as Evans grevillea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to a restricted area of New South Wales. It is a low, dense, spreading shrub with elliptic leaves and usually bla ...

'' MacKee Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 78(3-4) 1953 *''

Cyclophyllum jasminifolium ''Cyclophyllum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is found from New Guinea, Australia and on islands in many parts of the Pacific. Species * '' Cyclophyllum baladense'' Guillaumin * '' Cyclophyllum balansae'' (Baill. ...

'' Guillaumin & MacKee—Cah. Pacifique 9: 54. 1966 *'' Microsemma calophylla'' Guillaumin & MacKee—Mem. Mus. Hist. Nat., Paris, Ser. Bot. viii. 127 (1959) (synonym of '' Solmsia calophylla''

Baill. Henri Ernest Baillon was a French botanist and physician. He was born in Calais on 30 November 1827 and died in Paris on 19 July 1895. Baillon spent his professional life as a professor of natural history, and he published numerous works on ...

Adansonia 10: 38 (1871)

Plants named in his honour

(source) *''

Pittosporum mackeei ''Pittosporum mackeei'' is a species of plant in the Pittosporaceae family. It is endemic to New Caledonia. The species epithet, ''mackeei'', honours Hugh Shaw MacKee, a botanist who collected for over 30 years in New Caledonia, and who collec ...

'' Se
endemia.nc ''Pittosporum mackeei''.
*'' Plerandra mackeei'' Se
endemia.nc ''Plerandra mackeei''.
*'' Codia mackeeana'' Se
endemia.nc ''C. mackeeana''.
*'' Bulbophyllum keekee'' Se
endemia.nc ''B. keekee''.
*'' Solanum hugonis'' Se
endemia.nc ''S. hugonis''.
*'' Marsdenia mackeeorum'' Se
endemia.nc ''M. mackeeorum''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacKee, Hugh Shaw 1912 births 1995 deaths 20th-century Australian botanists British expatriates in New Caledonia