John McNeill (born 15 September 1933) is a British and Canadian

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 museum director who has worked particularly on the plant

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Caryophyllales. In 1960, he received a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh for his thesis on “Taxonomic studies in the Alsinoideae”. As a nomenclature specialist, he has provided editorial guidance for journals and book series, and has served as a member of the Editorial Committee of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and the

International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all those "trad ...

since the XIII International Botanical Congress in 1981. He has served as Vice-rapporteur and Rapporteur-general for several botanical congresses, including at Melbourne (2011). As an editor for the journal Taxon, he is involved with assessing proposals to conserve and reject botanical names.

Career summary

* 1957–1961 he was successively lecturer and associate lecturer in agricultural botany at the University of Reading * 1961–1969, lecturer at the University of Liverpool. * 1969–1981, Plant Research Institute of Agriculture Canada * 1981–1987, professor of biology at the University of Ottawa * 1987–1989, 'Regius Keeper' (director) of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh as successor to

Douglas Mackay Henderson Douglas Mackay Henderson CBE FRSE FLS (30 August 1927 – 10 November 2007) was a Scottish botanist, the 12th Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh from 1970 to 1987. Life He was born in Blairgowrie on 30 August 1927, the secon ...

and predecessor to

David S. Ingram David Stanley Ingram, OBE, VMH, FRSB, FRSE, FLS, F.I. Hort (born 10 October 1941) is an Honorary Professor of Science, Technology and Innovation Studies at the University of Edinburgh Ingram served as master of St. Catharine's College, Cambri ...

* 1989, Associate Director of the

Royal Ontario Museum The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...

in Toronto (Canada). In this position he was in charge of the collections and research * 1990–1991, Executive Director of the Royal Ontario Museum * 1990–1999, professor of botany at the University of Toronto * 1991–1995, Director of the Royal Ontario Museum * 1995–1997, Director and President of the Royal Ontario Museum Since his retirement in 1999, Dr McNeill has served as Director Emeritus of the Royal Ontario Museum. Since 1998 he has been an honorary research associate at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. He is involved in the

Flora of North America The ''Flora of North America North of Mexico'' (usually referred to as ''FNA'') is a multivolume work describing the native plants and naturalized plants of North America, including the United States, Canada, St. Pierre and Miquelon, and Greenla ...

, acting as an editor, writer, and as a consultant on matters of botanical nomenclature related to the project. He was President of the International Organization for Plant Information. For the'' Flora of China'' he contributed to the descriptions of the families'' Caryophyllaceae'' and'' Polygonaceae''. McNeill was the (co-) author of more than sixty botanical names. He is a member of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists and he serves on the editorial board of'' Edinburgh Journal of Botany''.

References

Flora Treatments by John McNeill
in'' Flora of China''
Page about John McNeill on the website of the Harvard University Herbaria

"John McNeill"

Canadian Who's Who ''Canadian Who's Who'' is a publication containing biographical information about 13,000 notable Canadians. Because of the absence of biographical fact-checking by the publishers (e.g. candidates send in their own biographical details without any ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:McNeill, John British botanists 1933 births Living people Academics of the University of Reading Directors of museums in Canada Academics of the University of Liverpool Academic staff of the University of Ottawa Academic staff of the University of Toronto Scientists from Edinburgh Curators from Edinburgh