Joy Thompson (born Joy Gardiner-Garden, 1923, died 2018) was an Australian botanist. Her main research areas were

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

and

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 ...

Life & Career

Thompson's university studies occurred during the second world war and in university vacations she worked in the Land Army near Maitland. She graduated in 1946 with a B.Sc. (Agric) from the

University of Sydney 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 si ...

, and went to work at the New South Wales Herbarium (then a part of the NSW department of Agriculture). She was Honorary Secretary of the Systematic Botany Committee of ANZAAS from 1952 to 1954. In 1956 she married Max Thompson and, as a public servant, resigned from her position as was required at the time. Ten years later, after the birth of her two children, she returned to work at the Herbarium, in a part-time position. On her retirement in 1982, she became an Honorary Research Associate,RBGS: Joy Thompson (honorary research associate)
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/ref> and until 2009, continued to work in this role, making the 2.5 hour train journey from Mittagong once a week.

Some publications

* 1993. ''A revision of the genus Swainsona (Fabaceae)''
Telopea 5(3): 427-581
* 1992. (with J. Everett) ''New alpine and subalpine species in Craspedia sens. strict. (Asteraceae: Gnaphalieae)''
Telopea 5(1): 45-51
* 1991. ''Swainsona pyrophila (Fabaceae), a new name and synonymisation''
Telopea 4(2): 359-359
* 1990. ''New species and new combinations in the genus Swainsona (Fabaceae) in New South Wales''
Telopea 4(1): 1-5
* 1989. (with J.R. Clarkson) ''A revision of the genus

Neofabricia ''Neofabricia'' is a genus of shrubs and small trees in the family Myrtaceae, first described as a genus in 1788, with the name ''Fabricia''. This, however, was an illegitimate homonym, in other words, someone had already used the name to refer t ...

(Myrtaceae)''
Telopea 3(3): 291-300
* 1989. ''A revision of the genus Leptospermum (Myrtaceae)''
Telopea 3(3): 301-449
* 1986. (with L.A.S. Johnson) ''

Callitris glaucophylla ''Callitris'' is a genus of coniferous trees in the Cupressaceae (cypress family). There are 16 recognized species in the genus, of which 13 are native to Australia and the other three (''C. neocaledonica, C. sulcata'' and ''C. p ...

Australia's 'White Cypress Pine' - a new name for an old species''
Telopea 2(6): 731-736
* 1983. ''Redefinitions and nomenclatural changes within the Leptospermum suballiance of Myrtaceae''. Telopea 2(4): 379-383 * 1981. ''A key to the plants of the subalpine and alpine zones of the Kosciusko region''. Telopea 2(3): 219-297 * 1981. (with Max Gray)''A check-list of the subalpine and alpine species found in the Kosciusko region of New South Wales''. Telopea 2(3): 299-346 *1976. ''A Revision of the Genus

Tetratheca ''Tetratheca'' is a genus of around 50 to 60 species of shrubs endemic to Australia. It is classified in the botanical family Elaeocarpaceae, now known to encompass the family Tremandraceae, which the genus originally belonged to. It occurs th ...

(Tremandraceae)''. Telopea 1(3): 139-215

Books

* 1993. ''A Revision of the Genus

Swainsona ''Swainsona'' is a large genus of flowering plants native to Australasia. There are 85 species, all but one of which are endemic to Australia. A member of the family Fabaceae (legumes), it is most closely related to the New Zealand genera ''Mont ...

(Fabaceae)''. Telopea (Sydney) 5 (3): 156 pp. * 1986. ''A Revision of the Genus Leptospermum: Including a Discussion of the Variation Contained Within the Genus and Its Probable Significance as Indicating the Origin, Subsequent Evolution and Spread of the Group''. Editor Univ. of Sydney, 678 pp. * 1978. ''Polygalaceae''. Flora of New South Wales 112: 118 pp. *1961. ''Papilionaceae''. Flora of New South Wales 101: 91 pp.

Honours

Eponymy

* (

Oxalidaceae The Oxalidaceae, or wood sorrel family, are a small family of five genera of herbaceous plants, shrubs and small trees, with the great majority of the 570 species in the genus ''Oxalis'' (wood sorrels). Members of this family typically have divid ...

) '' Oxalis thompsoniae'' B.J.Conn & P.G.Richards * (

Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

) ''

Agrostis thompsoniae ''Agrostis'' (bent or bentgrass) is a large and very nearly cosmopolitan genus of plants in the grass family, found in nearly all the countries in the world. It has been bred as a GMO creeping bent grass. Species * '' Agrostis aequivalvi'' ( ...

'' S.W.L.Jacobs

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Joy 20th-century Australian botanists 2018 deaths 1923 births University of Sydney alumni 20th-century Australian women scientists