William Vincent Fitzgerald, (21 July 1867 – 6 August 1929) was an Australian

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 described five

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

and about 210

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of plants from

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 ...

, including 33 ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

'' and several ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

'' species. He also collected for other botanists such as

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

and

Joseph Maiden Joseph Henry Maiden (25 April 1859 – 16 November 1925) was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the genus ''Eucalyptus''. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citing ...

, and was known through his work on orchids. ''

Eucalyptus fitzgeraldii ''Eucalyptus fitzgeraldii'', commonly known as the broad-leaved box or the paper-barked box, is a tree that is endemic to Western Australia. It has rough, flaky bark, flower buds arranged in groups of seven and bell-shaped to urn-shaped fruit. D ...

'' was named for him by

William Blakely William Faris Blakely (November 1875 – 1 September 1941) was an Australian botanist and collector. From 1913 to 1940 he worked in the National Herbarium of New South Wales, working with Joseph Maiden on ''Eucalyptus'', Maiden named a ''red g ...

. Fitzgerald was born on the goldfields in north-eastern

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

and at the age of 16 was training for a career in mining, but by the time he was in his early 20s he was corresponding with, and sending plant specimens to Mueller. In 1903 he was a member of Western Australian Royal Commission on Forests, and the following year chairman of the Forests Advisory Board of Western Australia. In that year he described 23 ''Acacia'' species, mostly from the south-west of Western Australia, in the first edition of ''Journal of the West Australian Natural History Society'' (which later became the ''

Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia The Royal Society of Western Australia (RSWA) promotes science in Western Australia. The RSWA was founded in 1914. It publishes the ''Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia'', and has awarded the Medal of the Royal Society of Western ...

''). In 1905 he was appointed to the Department of Lands and Surveys as naturalist to the trigonometrical survey expedition to the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

region and in the following year he was sent by the Minister of Lands to survey the potential for arable lands in the Kimberley. In 1912 he described in '' Journal of Botany'' six new south-west Western Australian species of ''Acacia'' discovered on these expeditions and three more in 1917. The species named by him include '' Acacia acuaria'', '' Acacia andrewsii'', '' Acacia cliftoniana'', ''

Melaleuca argentea ''Melaleuca argentea'', commonly known as the silver cadjeput, silver-leaved paperbark, silver cajuput, or mardderr in the Kunwinjku language, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to northern Australia. It is a common tree al ...

'', ''

Eucalyptus accedens ''Eucalyptus accedens'', commonly known as smooth bark wandoo or powderbark wandoo is a species of tree endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. Although the common names suggest it is similar to wandoo, (''Eucalyptus wandoo''), the two ...

'' and ''

Eucalyptus argillacea ''Eucalyptus argillacea'', commonly known as Mount House box, or northern grey box is a tree that is endemic to northern Australia. It has rough, fibrous bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds usually in groups of seven, creamy white flower ...

''. He died near the Daru River whilst exploring the Bismarck Range in the central highlands of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, William Vincent 20th-century Australian botanists 1867 births 1929 deaths Botanists active in Australia Botanical collectors active in Australia Botanists with author abbreviations Royal Society of Western Australia 19th-century Australian botanists