Obituaries and biographical notes

Beccari, Odoardo (1843-1920) H.E. Moore Jr, Odoardo Beccari (1843-1920). Principes 25 (1981) 29-35, portr. His trips and bibliography on palms. Everist, S.L. (1913-1981) On 21 October, 1981, Dr. Selwyn L. Everist, past director of the Queensland Herbarium, died in hospital in Brisbane, after a period of intermittent ill health. He commenced work at the Herbarium in 1930 and graduated from Queensland University with a B.Sc. in 1936. Following the retirement of Mr. W.D. Francis in 1954, he became Government Botanist, a position which was later changed to Director, Botany Branch and the Queensland Herbarium, Department of Primary Industries. He retired in 1976 (see Flora Malesiana Bulletin 30, 2745-2746). He was awarded an honorary Ph.D. on the basis of written work. Dr. Everist will be best remembered for his work in the field of economic botany. He published numerous articles on weeds and poisonous plants and his book Poisonous Plants of Australia will remain the definitive text in its field for many decades. He received a copy of the second edition of his book just one day before he died. The considerable addition of material following the first edition is testimony to his activity in ’retirement’. He was a good herbarium administrator, though he most enjoyed working in the field. He was always willing to provide assistance to herbarium botanists throughout Australia and overseas and he was very supportive of the Flora Malesiana project.— R.W. Johnson.