Dr John Akeroyd
AKEROYD, John Robert
Dates: (1952 – )
Abbreviation: Akeroyd
Dr. John Akeroyd held a series of post-doctoral Fellowships at The University of Reading between 1981 and 1989. His main research in the herbarium at Reading was to revise volume 1 of Flora Europaea (1983-89), published in 1993. He shouldered the burden of the revision, based on his knowledge of the European flora, and the literature and herbarium resources at Reading, but also co-ordinated the revision of several larger and more critical genera by European colleagues. This project was carried out in close collaboration with Professor David Allardice Webb, with whom he had previously worked in Dublin (1979-81).
Handwriting sample – Dr J A Akeroyd
Akeroyd specimens in the herbarium are largely from the Mediterranean region, especially Greece and (mostly with Dr. Stephen Jury and others) Italy and Sicily. Other collections represent his interest in weeds, the flora of Ireland, variation in Anthyllis vulneraria, and Polygonaceae, together with numerous specimens that he has determined for others in his capacity as the Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI) Referee for Polygonaceae and other taxa. During this period he was actively involved in the BSBI, especially on the Society’s Council and Meetings and Publications Committees, and as an editor of their journal Watsonia. Since 1989 his interests have moved into popular writing and journalism on conservation and botany; in 1994, with Hugh Synge, he co-founded Plant Talk, the first magazine for global plant conservation.
Author of Biography: J.R.Akeroyd, January 20th 2004
