Gibbs, Lilian Suzette   (1870 - 1925)

Born in 1870 in London, England; died on Jan. 30, 1925, in Santa Cruz, Teneriff.

She was abotanist who made extensive travels to the Malaysian region (1910 and 1913), S. Africa (1905), the Fiji Islands (1907), Australia (1914-15) and Hawaii, for the comparison of the alpine floras

She studied initially at Swanley Horticultural College in Kent, UK (1899-1901) and then specialised in botany at the Royal College of Science in London.

Gibbs was employed by the Natural History section of the British Museum in London for her entire career but also collaborated with the Herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and undertook histological and plant development work at the Royal College of Science.

She visited Fiji in 1907 and explored the flora on the northern slopes of the Mount Victoria range, and then studied the bryophyte flora of New Zealand on her way home, identifying four new species of liverwort in the Waitakere Ranges.

1913 found her in the Arfak Mountains in Dutch New Guinea and she continued to the Bellenden-Ker Range in Queensland, Australia in 1914 and then returned to London from Tasmania in 1915.

Gibbs had the personality and ability to organise and carry out her expeditions successfully but was also remembered for her skill as a hostess at afternoon tea-parties.

Several plants, including the genus Gibbsia Rendle were named after her.

Source: Extracted from:
van Steenis (ed) 'Flora Malesiana - Plant Collectors and Collections', Djakarta, (1950)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilian_Gibbs
Portrait Photo: 'Flora Malesiana' volume (above) p.190.

Australian collecting localities for 'Gibbs, L.S.' from AVH (2024)

Data from 32 specimens in Australian herbaria