Richard Kippist (1812–1882) was an English botanist and librarian.

Life

Kippist was born in Stoke Newington, London, on 11 June 1812. He worked as a clerk in the office of Joseph Woods, F.L.S., architect, with whom he shared an interest in botany. He was employed by the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

from 1830, holding the position of librarian from 1842 to 1881. His special interest was

Australian flora The flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 30,000 vascular and 14,000 non-vascular plants, 250,000 species of fungi and over 3,000 lichens. The flora has strong affinities with the flora of Gondwan ...

, and he advised

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

, Ferdinand von Mueller and others on this subject. His published works include "On ''Jansonia'', a new genus of Leguminosae from Western Australia" and "On ''Acradenia'', a new genus of Diosmae" in the ''Transactions'' of the society, describing the genera ''Jansonia'' (''

Gastrolobium ''Gastrolobium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. There are over 100 species in this genus, and all but two are native to the south west region of Western Australia. A significant number of the species accumulate monofluo ...

'') and '' Acradenia''. He assisted with the editing of Wood's ''The Tourists Flora'', published in 1830. His important papers include one on the discovery of spiral cells in the seeds of the family

Acanthaceae Acanthaceae is a family (the acanthus family) of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species. Most are tropical herbs, shrubs, or twining vines; some are epiphytes. Only a few species are distributed in tem ...

. Kippist was a founding member of

The Microscopical Society of London The Royal Microscopical Society (RMS) is a learned society for the promotion of microscopy. It was founded in 1839 as the Microscopical Society of London making it the oldest organisation of its kind in the world. In 1866, the society gained it ...

and associate of the Royal Botanical Society, Regent's Park. Kippist died in Chelsea, London, on 14 January 1882, notices of his life appeared ''Proceedings'' of the society. The names of the genus ''

Kippistia ''Kippistia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. The name commemorates Richard Kippist, librarian to the Linnean Society. There is only one known species, ''Kippistia suaedifolia'', native to Australia. It is found in eve ...

'' and species ''

Banksia kippistiana ''Banksia kippistiana'' is a species of shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has linear, pinnatifid leaves with ten to twenty lobes on each side, heads of up to eighty yellow and cream-coloured flowers, and elliptical follicles. Desc ...

'' and ''

Hakea kippistiana ''Hakea kippistiana'' is a shrub in the family Proteacea and endemic to Western Australia. It is a dense prickly shrub with sharp needle-shaped leaves with fragrant white, cream or pink flowers from November to February. Description ''Hakea kip ...

'' commemorate his contribution to Australian botany.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kippist, Richard English librarians 1812 births 1882 deaths Fellows of the Royal Microscopical Society English botanists Botanists active in Australia