Norman Keith Bonner Robson (1928 – 6 September 2021) was a Scientific Associate in the Plants Division, Department of Life Sciences at the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

. He was a member of staff at the Museum from 1962–1988, retiring as Principal Scientific Officer with responsibility for General Herbarium Section I. Norman produced a worldwide taxonomic

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

of genus ''

Hypericum ''Hypericum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Hypericaceae (formerly considered a subfamily of Clusiaceae). The genus has a nearly worldwide distribution, missing only from tropical lowlands, deserts and polar regions. Many ''Hype ...

'' between 1977 and 2012. Norman’s interest in ''Hypericum'' was stimulated by a final year project on the British species whilst at

Aberdeen University , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

. He continued work on the genus for his PhD at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

(Robson, 1956) with a thesis entitled ‘Studies in the genus ''Hypericum'' L.’ that examined floral anatomy and evolution. 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 ...

and subsequently at the Natural History Museum, Norman contributed accounts of Hypericum for

Floras Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

of various parts of the world. Roy Lancaster encouraged him to start work on a ''Hypericum''

in the early 1970s. The monograph, published in a series of papers from 1977–2012, was recently completed and accounts for all 490 species of the genus. Norman published more than 90 papers and flora accounts on ''Hypericum'' and described more than 80 new species.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robson, Norman English botanists 1928 births 2021 deaths Taxon authorities of Hypericum species