Arthur Bertram Court (25 December 1927 – 18 May 2012) was an Australian

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

He grew up in the

Dandenong Ranges The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just the Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges in Victoria, Australia, approximately east of the state capital Melbourne. A minor branch of the Great Dividing Range, the Dandenongs consist mostly of rol ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

where he became interested in local flora especially

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

s and

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

s. Court graduated and received his Bachelor of Science from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

. Employed at the Department of Crown Lands and Survey in Victoria then at the National Herbarium of Victoria he became the botanist in 1957. He collected extensively in Victoria and South Australia, particularly species of ''Acacia''. His written works included the family Mimosaceae section in J.H. Willis’s ''Handbook to the Plants of Victoria''. From 1966 to 1967 he was the

Australian Botanical Liaison Officer Australian Botanical Liaison Officer was a secondment position, held for up to twelve months by an Australian botanist (or expert in Australian botany) at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, England in the United Kingdom. The position was c ...

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

. In 1974 Court was employed as the Curator of the Herbarium at Canberra Botanic Gardens and was later promoted to Assistant Director of the National Collections of the

Australian National Botanic Gardens The Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) is a heritage-listed botanical garden located in , Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Established in 1949, the Gardens is administered by the Australian Government's Departme ...

in 1983 until he retired in 1989. During his career he published work in several journals including '' Victorian Naturalist'', '' Muelleria'' and ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

''. ''

Acacia courtii ''Acacia courtii'', commonly known as Northern Brother wattle or North Brother wattle, is a species of tree in the family Fabaceae that is native to eastern Australia. It is currently listed as Vulnerable species, vulnerable by the ''Environment ...

'' was named by

Mary Tindale Mary Douglas Tindale (19 September 1920 – 31 March 2011) was an Australia Australian botanist. She was an Australian botanist specialising in pteridology (ferns) and the genera ''Acacia'' and ''Glycine''. She devoted her life to the study of f ...

and Clare Herscovitch in honour of Court's achievements.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Court, Arthur Bertram 1927 births 2012 deaths Australian Botanical Liaison Officers