Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
James Hamlyn Willis
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1910 - 1995
History
Born in Oakleigh, Victoria, on 28 January 1910, died in Melbourne, Victoria, on 10 November 1995.
Served as a forestry officer in many locations throughout Victoria, 1931-1937. In October 1937 Willis joined the National Herbarium of Victoria as a taxonomic botanist, and spent the remainder of his working life there, until 28 January 1972. He rose to become Assistant Government Botanist, and Acting Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens and Herbarium. Throughout his life he collected avidly, both vascular and non-vascular plants, and fungi. For many years he was the focus of taxonomic work in Victoria, and wrote the 2-volume A Handbook to Plants in Victoria (1962, 1972) which for over 30 years was the standard reference not only for that State but for adjacent areas as well. He described 64 plant species alone or jointly and published about 883 books, papers and reviews. His herbarium is housed in MEL, but duplicates are widely distributed within Australia and overseas.