Stanley Thatcher Blake (1910 – 24 February 1973) was an Australian botanist who served as president of the

Royal Society of Queensland The Royal Society of Queensland was formed in Queensland, Australia in 1884 from the Queensland Philosophical Society, Queensland's oldest scientific institution, with royal patronage granted in 1885. The aim of the Society is "Progressing scie ...

and who was associated with the

Queensland Herbarium The Queensland Herbarium ( Index Herbariorum code: BRI) is situated at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mount Coot-tha, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is part of Queensland's Department of Environment and Science. It is responsible for disc ...

beginning in 1945 until his death.

Background

Prior to his stint with the Herbarium, Blake received a Walter and Eliza Hall Fellowship which allowed him to undertake botanical collecting expeditions to Western Queensland (1935–1937). Blake is also credited with validating the name ''

Melaleuca quinquenervia ''Melaleuca quinquenervia'', commonly known as the broad-leaved paperbark, paper bark tea tree, punk tree or niaouli, is a small- to medium-sized tree of the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. It grows as a spreading tree up to tall, with its trunk co ...

'', which was initially proposed by

Antonio José Cavanilles Antonio José Cavanilles (16 January 1745 – 5 May 1804) was a leading Spanish taxonomic botanist of the 18th century. He named many plants, particularly from Oceania. He named at least 100 genera, about 54 of which were still used in 2004, ...

(1745–1804).

References

*Bright Sparks
Blake, Stanley Thatcher (1911–1973)
1910 births 1973 deaths 20th-century Australian botanists Royal Society of Queensland Australian Botanical Liaison Officers {{Australia-botanist-stub