Neville Graeme Marchant (born 1939) is a retired

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

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 ...

. He was formerly the Director of the

Western Australian Herbarium The Western Australian Herbarium is the State Herbarium in Perth, Western Australia. It is part of the State government's Department of Parks and Wildlife, and has responsibility for the description and documentation of the flora of Western Austr ...

. Marchant began working for the Western Australian Herbarium at the age of 15, as a laboratory assistant to Government Botanist Charles Gardner. Later he attended the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

, graduating in 1962. He taught for a short time, including under Professor

Brian Grieve Professor Brian John Grieve (15 August 1907 – 5 September 1997) was an Australian botanist best known for his multi-volume book series '' How to know Western Australian wildflowers''. Born in Allans Flat, Victoria, he was educated at Williams ...

, before taking up a scholarship to study at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. After attaining a PhD in plant taxonomy, he won a position on the staff of the Western Australian Herbarium, which he took up in 1970. In 2001 and 2002 he was

Australian Botanical Liaison Officer Australian Botanical Liaison Officer was a secondment position, held for up to twelve months by an Australian botanist (or expert in Australian botany) at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, England in the United Kingdom. The position was c ...

at the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

. He was involved in the development of

FloraBase ''FloraBase'' is a public access web-based database of the flora of Western Australia. It provides authoritative scientific information on 12,978 taxa, including descriptions, maps, images, conservation status and nomenclatural details. 1,272 alie ...

, and the establishment of regional herbaria. He was also a driving force behind Botany 2000. He is an author of the 1987 book ''Flora of the Perth region'' and the 2002 book ''Flora of the South West'', and has also published on the history of the Herbarium.Marchant, N. G. (2005) ''Documenting a flora''. (History of the Herbarium) ''Early days'' (1970), Vol. 12, Part 5 (2005), p.566-583 His research interests include the ''

Drosera ''Drosera'', which is commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genus, genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. 2 volumes. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucil ...

''.

Notes

References

InterSector ''InterSector'' is a Western Australian government publication that followed the earlier ''Public Service notices (Perth, W.A.)''. The formal title is ''InterSector : official newsletter of the Western Australian Public Sector''. Articles in the ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Marchant, Neville Australian Botanical Liaison Officers Botanists active in Australia Botany in Western Australia Living people Scientists from Western Australia 1939 births