Edwin Cheel (14 February 1872 – 19 September 1951) was an Australian botanist and collector. Before being appointed as a staff member of Centennial Park in 1897 he was a gardener in New South Wales and Queensland. Later he transferred to the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney is a heritage-listed major botanical garden, event venue and public recreation area located at Farm Cove on the eastern fringe of the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government are ...

. In 1908 he joined the National Herbarium, and was appointed Chief Botanist and Curator from 1933 to 1936. He described plants in the Myrtle family such as ''

Melaleuca howeana ''Melaleuca howeana'', commonly known as tea tree, is a plant in the myrtle Family (biology), family, Myrtaceae and is Endemism, endemic to the Lord Howe Island, Lord Howe Island group, off the east coast of Australia. It is common in exposed a ...

''. Apart from the myrtles, his other main botanic interest were the

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

s. :fr:Edwin Cheel He traveled extensively in collection of botanical specimens, which are lodged in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. He has a street named after him in the suburb of

Farrer Farrer may refer to: People * Alisha Farrer (born 1993), Australian actress and model * Austin Farrer (1904–1968), English theologian, philosopher, and friend of C. S. Lewis * Buster Farrer (1936–2025), South African cricketer * Claude Farrer ...

, in the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

References

External links

Anbg.gov: Edwin Cheel biography

IPNI.org: Edwin Cheel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheel, Edwin 20th-century Australian botanists Botanists with author abbreviations 1872 births 1951 deaths Botanists active in Australia British emigrants to Australia People from Chartham