John Francis Michael Cannon (22 April 1930 – 31 March 2008) 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 ...

who held the role of

Keeper of Botany The Keeper of Botany was a position at the Natural History Museum — formerly British Museum (Natural History) — in London, England, and served as head of department for botany. The position was in place between 1827 and 2013. Keepers of Bota ...

at the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

between 1978 and 1990. Cannon joined the Department of Botany at the British Museum (Natural History), as it was then known, in October 1952. He was appointed as a scientific officer in the 'General Herbarium', with responsibility for one of the four sections into which the herbarium was divided. These were families 67 (

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All speci ...

) to 107 (

Asclepiadaceae The Asclepiadoideae are a subfamily of plants in the family Apocynaceae. Formerly, they were treated as a separate family under the name Asclepiadaceae, e.g. by APG II, and known as the milkweed family. They form a group of perennial herbs, twin ...

). The following year he was given responsibility for planning and building a major new botany gallery - the first exhibition to be constructed in the museum following serious bomb damage during the second world war. It reflected a new approach to making museum natural history more accessible to a general audience, and was opened by

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was the l ...

on 31 October 1962 and dismantled 20 years later. Cannon was made Senior Scientific Officer in 1956; Principal Scientific Officer in 1964, and Keeper of Botany in 1977. He specialised in the study of

Apiaceae Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plants ...

(Parsley Family), especially African species. Cannon retired from the museum in 1990. He was president of the

Botanical Society of the British Isles The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) is a scientific society for the study of flora, plant distribution and taxonomy relating to Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. The society was founded as the Botani ...

from 1983 to 1985.

Publications

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References

* ‘CANNON, John Francis Michael’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2009 ; online edn, Nov 200
accessed 19 May 2011
1930 births 2008 deaths British botanists People associated with the Natural History Museum, London Presidents of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland {{UK-botanist-stub