Taylor, Joan Margaret (1929 - 2017)

Born in Victoria in 1929, died in Canberra, ACT, in October 2017

Joan Taylor was born and raised in rural Victoria and moved to Canberra after she married. There, she initially lived a domestic existence, bringing up two children and developing a beautiful garden, which was a life-long hobby.

Later in life she obtained a Horticulture Certificate at the Canberra TAFE school, where she topped the course. This led to a job at the Australian National Botanic Gardens (then Canberra Botanic Gardens), classified as a 'gardener', where her duties included herbarium curation and assisting the horticultural staff by identifying and vouchering plants in the gardens. A fairer and more realistic career structure came only later, and then Joan was able to enter the technical stream and receive equal pay with male colleagues. Joan was encouraged to become involved in taxonomic research including Flora projects, such as the Flora of Central Australia and Flora of Australia. Joan worked mainly with Mike Crisp on the egg-and-bacon peas (Fabaceae) but her interests later extended to Pittosporaceae. With Mike's support, she undertook a full revision of Chorizema and published the monograph in Australian Systematic Botany in 1992. They also brought out a popular account in Australian Plants in 1993.

Joan came to love field work when she got the opportunity with her job at ANBG. She participated in major field trips to several parts of Australia, especially Western Australia (see list below).

Mike Crisp moved from the Gardens to ANU in 1990, and after a series of changes in direction at the Gardens Joan retired from the Australian National Botanic Gardens.

A more detailed and personalised Obituary by Mike Crisp is available in Australasian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter 173 ( December 2017 )

Major field trips

South-west Western Australia, September–October 1979, with Mike Crisp & Ron Jackson.
Kozsciusko National Park, January–February 1981, with Julia Rymer, Barry Hadlow & Ron Jackson.
South-west Western Australia, September 1983, with Peter Ollerenshaw (828 specimens).
Northern NSW, October–November 1984, with Mike Crisp.
Central and far north Queensland, September 1991.

Taxa named

Fabaceae

Chorizema sect. Parviflores J.M.Taylor & Crisp (1992)
Chorizema sect. Hirtistylis J.M.Taylor & Crisp (1992)
Chorizema axillare subsp. laxum J.M.Taylor & Crisp (1992)
Chorizema carinatum (Meisn.) J.M.Taylor & Crisp (1992)
Chorizema circinale J.M.Taylor & Crisp (1992)
Chorizema obtusifolium (Sweet) J.M.Taylor & Crisp (1992)
Chorizema racemosum (Meisn.) J.M.Taylor & Crisp (1992)
Chorizema spathulatum (Meisn.) J.M.Taylor & Crisp (1992)
Chorizema ulotropis J.M.Taylor & Crisp (1992)
Mirbelia granitica Crisp & J.M.Taylor (1987)
Mirbelia rhagodioides Crisp & J.M.Taylor (1987)
Mirbelia stipitata Crisp & J.M.Taylor (1987)

Pittosporaceae

Bentleya diminuta Crisp & J.M. Taylor (1990)

Publications

Crisp MD, Taylor JM. 1987. Notes on Leptosema and Mirbelia (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae) in Central Australia.
Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens 10: 131–143.

Crisp MD, Taylor JM, Bennett EM. 1989. Pittosporaceae – an old east Gondwanan family. Australian Systematic Botany Society Symposium and Forum, Sydney, Australia, 28- 30 June 1989. Plant Systematics in the Age of Molecular Biology and Gondwanan Elements in the Australian Flora, Program and Abstracts.

Crisp MD, Taylor JM, Bennett EM. 1989. Pittosporaceae – an old east Gondwanan family? Australian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter 60: 20.

Crisp MD, Taylor JM. 1990. A new species of Bentleya E.Bennett (Pittosporaceae) from southern Western Australia. Botanical Journal of The Linnean Society 103: 309–315.

Crisp MD, Taylor JM. 1993. Chorizema . Australian Plants 17: 100–126.

Meredith LD, Crisp MD, Taylor JM. 1990. Chorizema varium : an extinct Australian species. The Plantsman 11: 246–250.

Taylor, JM. 1983. Swainsona . In: Flora of Central Australia , ed. J. Jessop. pp. 161–166. A.H. & A.W. Reed, Sydney.

Taylor JM, Crisp MD. 1992. A revision of Chorizema (Leguminosae: Mirbelieae). Australian Systematic Botany 5: 249–335.

Source: Extracted from: Crisp, Mike (2017) 'Obituary - Joan Margaret Taylor, 1929-2017', Australasian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter 173 (December 2017) p.31-33
Portrait Photo: Extracted from: above publication, not dated

Collecting localities for 'Taylor, J.M.' from AVH (14/5/2018)

1349 specimens