Robert Dunlop Royce (14 March 1914 – 10 July 2008) was an Australian botanist. He was

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

of the

Western Australian Herbarium The Western Australian Herbarium is the state Herbarium, situated in Perth, the capital of Western Australia. It houses a collection of more than 845,000 dried specimens of plants, algae, bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts), lichens, fu ...

from 1960 to 1974. Born in

Perth, Western Australia Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, he began his botanical career with the

Western Australian Department of Agriculture The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) is a Western Australian government department responsible for regulating and advancing agricultural and food industries, fisheries and regional development within the state. ...

in 1937. He transferred to the Western Australian Herbarium in 1944, and was appointed curator in 1960. One of his main research interests was the application of botany to agriculture, and to this end he undertook substantial research into toxic plants. He published numerous papers on a range of subjects, but does not appear to have described any new taxa. He also oversaw the planning and construction of the current herbarium building. He retired in 1974. The genus ''

Roycea ''Roycea'' is a genus of plants formerly in the family Chenopodiaceae, and now in the Amaranthaceae. The genus was first described in 1948 by Charles Austin Gardner, and the genus name honours Robert Dunlop Royce (a helper at the Perth Herbari ...

'' and the species '' Eucalyptus roycei'' (Shark Bay Mallee) were named in his honour.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Royce, Robert Dunlop 1914 births 2008 deaths Botanists active in Australia Scientists from Western Australia