Karl Jung compared the similarity of a surname with the person’s occupation. More recently the London, England-based weekly New Scientist has occasionally indulged in such reader write-ins. Some years ago this spurred us to commence collecting those associated with gardening or related subjects . . .
Roan Sage, a plant biologist at the University of Toronto
Arnold Bloom, a plant biologist at the University of California, Davis
Canadian director for the plant biosafety office is Stephen Yarrow
Mary Desjardins, executive director, TD Friends of the Environment Foundation
Bob Flowerdew, British gardener, author, television presenter
Ed Snodgrass, green roof guru and author of Green Roof Plants
Barrie E. Juniper, Emeritus Reader in Plant Sciences, University of Oxford
Sarah Greenleaf, University of California, Davis, bee specialist
Jennifer Sprout at Green Roofs for Healthy Cities
Gene Robinson of the University of Illinois, a founding member of the consortium that sequenced the honeybee genome
Will Flower is a spokesman for Michigan-based Republic landfill company
Sara Oldfield, secretary general for Botanic Gardens Conservation International
Shanta Barley has written several botanically-based articles for New Scientist itself. But it was back in November 1994 that New Scientist spied Jen Hunt of the University of Manchester stating in the October 1994 issue of The Psychologist: “Authors gravitate to the area of research which fits their surname.” Hunt’s example was an article on incontinence in the British Journal of Urology (vol. 49, p. 173) by J. W. Splatt and D. Weedon. Over subsequent years, the magazine has published many, many such associations which they call ‘nominative determinism.’ Some of those associated with our field of endeavour include:
Yuki Ichinose. a plant pathologist at Okayama University in Japan who specializes in pollen
Zoologist J. Acorn had a Canadian TV show called The Nature Nut
The publicity officer of the International Union of New Varieties of Plants is Barry Greengrass
Australian ranch manager Warren Breeding complained that rabbits had reached plague proportions
Adrian Tilling once won the Australian National Ploughing Championship
Robin Pollard is a senior forestry officer on the Isle of Man, U.K.
Raymond Bush is author of Tree Fruit Growing, Sophie Wormser of About Silkworms and Silk
Ms Grubb who worked in the entomology section of the Australian research organization CSIRO
Christopher Bird of Cambridge University studies rooks
Kirsi Peck is wildlife advisor to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Colin Flood is a director of Meteorological Forecasting
Charles Sprinkle is or was working at the US National Weather Service,
J. Snow is on the editorial board of the Journal of Meteorology
Wes Porter is a horticultural consultant and writer based in Toronto. Wes has over 40 years of experience in both temperate and tropical horticulture from three continents.
