Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson

Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson
AM FAA
Born(1925-06-26)26 June 1925
Australia
Died1 August 1997(1997-08-01) (aged 72)
Australia
NationalityAustralian
Other namesLawrie Johnson
OccupationTaxonomic botanist

Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson AM FAA (26 June 1925 – 1 August 1997) known as Lawrie Johnson, was an Australian taxonomic botanist. He worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, for the whole of his professional career, as a botanist (1948–1972), Director (1972–1985) and Honorary Research Associate (1986–1997).[1]

Alone or in collaboration with colleagues, he distinguished and described four new families of vascular plants, 33 new genera, 286 new species (including posthumous publications), and reclassified another 395 species.

Of the families he described, Rhynchocalycaceae (with B. G. Briggs, 1985) is accepted by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). Hopkinsiaceae and Lyginiaceae, (which he and B. G. Briggs proposed in 2000 be carved out of Anarthriaceae), have not been accepted by the APG.

Lawrie Johnson died of cancer in 1997.

He received many honours and awards, including:

The standard author abbreviation L.A.S.Johnson is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[3]
  1. ^ a b Barbara G. Briggs (2001). "Biographical memoir : Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson 1925-1997". Australian Academy of Science. Retrieved 11 December 2016. - originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol.13, no.4, 2001.
  2. ^ "Member of the Order of Australia". It's an Honour. 26 January 1987. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  3. ^ International Plant Names Index.  L.A.S.Johnson.