Whiffin, Trevor Paul (1947 - )

Born at Bedford, England, 14 March 1947. 

After graduating from the University of Cambridge in 1968, he was a postgraduate at the New York Botanical Garden and the University of Texas at Austin. His PhD was awarded in 1972 for a revision of Heterocentron (Melastomataceae), which involved field work in tropical parts of Mexico and Central America. From 1972 he was a lecturer in the Department of Botany, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Vic. Dr Whiffin has been a member of many learned societies associated with his occupation - FLS (London), ASBS, ASPT, IAPT etc.

He forged a fruitful link with Bernie Hyland and others at CSIRO Atherton and this continued until Bernie’s retirement. This collaboration culminated in 2003 in the publication of the computer-operated, interactive identification system ‘Australian Tropical Rain Forest Plants: Trees, Shrubs & Vines’, by Hyland, Whiffin et al. (CSIRO: Melbourne).

Trevor made plant collections in all major rainforest areas of eastern Australia from northern New South Wales northwards and also collected on brief trips to Papua New Guinea. For the Flora of Australia project, he prepared the accounts for Melastomataceae and Monimiaceae.

Trevor Whiffin retired in May 2008 after 36 years of research and teaching in plant systematics in the Department of Botany, LaTrobe University.

Collecting localities for 'Whiffin, T.' from AVH (2021)

Data from 1,078 specimens