Gunn, Bee Fong   (fl. 1990s-2020s)

Bee Fong Gunn graduated with a BSc in 1978 and DipGrad. (Conservation and Botany) in 1991 at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Between 1980 - 1994, she and her family lived in Darwin, Northern Territory, where she began as a botanical illustrator.

She studied botanical illustration under Rita Walker and in 1989 worked as a free-lance illustrator for the Mangroves of the Darwin Region (Glenn Wightman, Conservation Commission of the NT), watercolours of Nymphoides aurantiaca (Dalzell) Kuntze and water lily for Fogg Dam Conservation Reserve and in 1995 she was commissioned by the Northern Territory Herbarium (Conservation Commission of the NT) to illustrate the Decaisnina signata (F.Muell. ex Benth.) Tiegh. for the cover of the Flora of the Darwin Region Vol. 1 (C.R. Dunlop, G.J. Leach and I.D. Cowie).

In 1996 she participated in an exhibition on Botanical Artists of Australia at 'Framed', the Darwin Gallery, NT Whilst immersed in illustrating plants, she became intrigued by plant biology and morphology and developed a budding desire to study botany.

Between 1996 - 2000, she was employed at the New York Botanical Garden, New York, USA as Herbarium Assistant.

In 2000 she was invited to participate in an American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) group exhibition at the Buffalo Museum of Science, New York, curated by botanical artist Carol Woodin (ASBA). In 2000, she also exhibited at the Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut on flowers and pollinators (Flower Power: Botanical Art) organised by Katie Lee (New York Botanical Garden, botanical/zoological artist).

In 2000 she moved to St. Louis, Missouri and enrolled at the University of St. Louis, Missouri for a MSc to study plant systematics supervised by Professors Peter Stevens and Elizabeth Kellogg with focus on the phylogeny of the Cocoeae (Arecaceae). During her studies she was a free-lance illustrator for the Flora of North America contributing illustrations for taxonomic treatments in Volumes 4, 5, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24 and 26.

She completed her MSc in 2003 and was appointed Research Specialist (2003 - 2008) at the Missouri Botanical Garden (William L. Brown Center), St. Louis, Missouri on Tibetan ethnobotany with collaborators in North-West Yunnan, China.

In 2005, she was featured in an exhibition at the Linda Hall Library on Women's Work: Portraits of 12 Scientific Illustrators from 17th to 21st Century, Linda Hall Library of Science and Technology, Kansas City and Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

In 2008 she returned to Australia and in 2009 proceeded to do a PhD at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra at the Research School of Biology, Ecology and Evolution Division under supervision of Professors Michael Crisp, Rod Peakall, Dr. Matthew Prebble and Dr. Joe Miller. In 2016 she completed her PhD with the thesis on Phylogenomics of the Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.).

Between 2016 - 2020 she was appointed Postdoctoral Fellow at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (ABRS: NTRGP Grant: PIs: Joanne Birch and Daniel Murphy) to carry out research on the Australian Asparagales and revision of Lomandroideae using genomic scale molecular techniques to understand the evolution, phylogeography and the genetic diversity of this order.

From 2020 Bee became an Honorary Associate at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and Affiliate of the CSIRO, Australian National Herbarium in Canberra. Her research focuses on the molecular evolution in monocots and how variation may be explained using genetics and morphology.

Source: Extracted from: Pers.Comm. Gunn, B.F. (2024)
Portrait Photo: 2024, M.Fagg

Collecting localities for 'Gunn, B.F.' from AVH (2024)

Data from 815 specimens