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L.A.S. Johnson — a botanical career 
Barbara G. Briggs 
Abstract 
Briggs, Barbara G. (National Herbarium of Neiu South Wales, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, 2000, 
Australia) 1996. L.A.S. Johnson —a botanical career. Telopea 6(4): 511-520. A summary is given of 
the career of Lawrence (Lawrie) Johnson, who is celebrated in this special issue of Telopea. As 
botanist (1948-1972) and Director (1972-1985) at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney he has 
contributed to plant systematics, especially in the Casuarinaceae, Zamiaceae, Oleaceae, Juncaceae, 
Myrtaceae (most notably in Eucalyptus and Corymbia), Proteaceae and Restionaccae. He has 
been responsible for major improvement of the botanical curation of the National Herbarium of 
New South Wales and, as Director, the construction of the Robert Brown Building (which 
houses the Herbarium and Scientific Division), early stages in the development of the important 
satellite gardens at Mount Tomah and Mount Annan, and planning of the Tropical Centre 
glasshouses and of the Flora ofNeiu South Wales. In his seventy-first year he continues in research, 
is enthused by the new phylogenetic insights arising from DNA research, and continues to 
maintain high scientific standards and contribute to knowledge of plants and their evolution. 
Introduction 
Lawrence (Lawrie) Johnson, botanist (1948-72) and Director (1972-85) at the Royal 
Botanic Gardens Sydney, has contributed to botanical systematics and to knowledge 
of Australian plant groups for more than four decades. This issue of Telopea honours 
him in his seventy-first year. 
Many awards over the years have recognised Johnson's achievements, especially his 
award as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to botanical science. 
He has received the Clarke Medal of the Royal Society of New South Wales, the 
Mueller Medal of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement 
of Science (ANZAAS), a D.Sc. from the University of Sydney and election as a 
Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and of the Linnean Society of London 
(honoris causa), as well as corresponding memberships of the Botanical Society of 
America and the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. He also received a special 
informal New Year's 'honour' in 1984 from prominent Sydney journalist Leo 
Schofield, for improving the city of Sydney by making the Royal Botanic Gardens 
'even more beautiful ... and a dynamic centre for all things horticultural'. 
These are remarkable achievements for a scientist in the relatively low-profile field 
of systematic botany, and one who stayed in one institution for the whole of his 
professional career. 
Lawrie Johnson, botanist 
Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson graduated in science with first class honours from 
the University of Sydney in 1948. His intention since early teenage to study science 
went along with a generally rationalist approach to life and an interest in understanding 
and classifying features of the world around him. Encouragement by good science 
teachers at Parramatta High School was influential, rather than a particular love of 
plants. Indeed, he had initially intended to major in chemistry but turned his interests 
