Peter Wyse Jackson

Peter Sherlock Wyse Jackson is the President and Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden and George Engelmann Professor of Botany at Washington University in St Louis, MO.

Early Life

Wyse Jackson was born in Kilkenny, Ireland to Robert and Lois Wyse Jackson. His father was a distinguished Bishop of the Church of Ireland for the Diocese of Limerick, Ardfert and Aghadoe and was formerly Dean of Cashel. As a young boy, he attended St. Michael’s National School in Limerick, Ireland and attended secondary school at St. Columba’s College in Dublin, Ireland.

He went on to graduate with a B.A.(Mod) in Botany from the University of Dublin, Trinity College in 1978. In 1982 he obtained an M.A. from the university. In 1984, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Dublin. His Ph.D. research was based in plant taxonomy.

Wyse Jackson is married with three children.

Career

From 1978 to 1979, he worked as a biology teacher at his alma mater, St. Columba’s College in Rathfarnham Dublin. In 1981, Wyse Jackson was appointed administrator of the Trinity College Dublin Botanic Garden. In 1987, he moved to Kew to join IUCN, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, where he helped to establish the international network organization for botanic gardens that became Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). In 1994, he was appointed secretary general of BGCI and in 2005 returned to Dublin as director of the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland.

Wyse Jackson served for many years as Secretary General of Botanic Gardens Conservation International, a global network of botanical gardens dedicated to conservation and biodiversity issues. In 2005 he was appointed Director of the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, which includes the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, Dublin and Kilmacurragh, Co. Wicklow. On September 1, 2010 he succeeded Peter Raven as President of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Missouri. Concurrently with his selection as President of the Missouri Botanical Garden, he was named the George Engelmann Professor of Botany at Washington University in St. Louis.

Since joining the Missouri Botanical Garden he has led a series of major developments in the Garden’s infrastructure and programs, including the restoration and reopening of the Garden’s historic Stephen and Peter Sachs Museum, the Oertli Family Hardy Plant Nursery, the Garden’s Seed Bank, a new education center - the ‘Plant Lab’, a new conservation genetics program, and the new Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center that is due to be completed in 2022.

He has been a member of the boards of numerous botanical, conservation and horticultural organizations around the world. He was founding chair (and currently continues as co-chair with Pierre-Andre Loizeau (Geneva)) of the World Flora Online Consortium, an organization launched in 2012 to prepare an online Flora of the world by 2020. Since 2002 he has played a leading role in the development and implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity. In 2004, he was elected chair of the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation created to support the implementation of the GSPC. He held this position until 2018 when he was elected as co-chair (with Maïté Delmas (Paris)). In 1995, he founded the European Botanic Gardens Consortium, an organization that links botanic gardens through Europe; he was elected as an honorary member of the Consortium in 2005. He was chairman of Ireland’s Biodiversity Forum, monitoring the implementation of Ireland’s National Biodiversity Plan. He is a member of the board of BGCI, and a former member of the boards of the Irish Biodiversity Data Centre and Dublin Zoo, Fauna and Flora International, the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland, the Center for Plant Conservation (U.S.) and is a former president of the Dublin Naturalists’ Field Club. He is a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London and a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. He holds the position of adjunct professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Yunnan, and is an External Advisor of the Chinese Union of Botanical Gardens. He is an Honorary Life Member of the Red Nacional de Jardines Botánicos de Colombia and is a Fellow of the Explorers Club.

In St. Louis, he is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, a member of the Board of Commissioners of Tower Grove Park, a former member of the Board of Webster University, a member of the Cortex Board of Directors and an Ex Officio Trustee of the Academy of Science St. Louis. He is an honorary member of the St Louis and Ladue Garden Clubs.

He has been a scientific, development and management advisor to a large number of botanic gardens and arboreta in about 40 countries and has lectured in 70 countries. He has been involved in the organisation of many botanical, botanic garden and plant conservation conferences worldwide, including membership of the Scientific Program Committee of the XIX International Botanical Congress, Shenzhen, China, 2017 and was coordinator of BGCI’s International and Global Botanic Garden Congresses (from 1989 to 2010).

Research

Wyse Jackson’s research interests are mainly focused on the areas of botanic gardens and plant conservation, including conservation biology of threatened plants and ethnobotany. His recent research includes work on plant conservation, Irish ethnobotany, botanic gardens development and management and international biodiversity conservation policies.

In the 1980s, his PhD research on the taxonomy and biosystematics of Irish Cruciferae was undertaken in Ireland, leading to a revision of the genus Cochlearia L. published in Flora Europaea (Vol 1, 2nd Ed.). His recent research has included work on Irish ethnobotany and Irish floristics, In 2014, the results of his ethnobotanical research were published in his book, ‘Ireland’s Generous Nature - the past and present uses of wild plants in Ireland’ (Missouri Botanical Garden Press).

Awards & Honors

Received the 23rd World Ecology Award on behalf of the Missouri Botanical Garden (awarded to the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Saint Louis Zoo for their work in Madagascar by the Whitney R. Harris, World Ecology Center at the University of Missouri St Louis), (November, 2019).
Awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, for Services to Horticulture, by the Garden Club of America (May, 2017).
Awarded the 2017 Science Leadership Award of the St Louis Academy of Science (April, 2017).
Fellow of the St Louis Academy of Science (elected 2017).
International Visionary Award of the Boeing Institute of International Business, Saint Louis University, U.S.A. (2016).
Honorary Member, Boxwood Society of the Midwest (2014).
Honorary Marshal of the 2013 Metropolitan St Patrick’s Day Parade, St Louis, Missouri (March, 2013).
Honorary Member, Ladue Garden Club, St Louis (2012).
Honorary Member, Garden Club of Saint Louis (2011).
Alumni Award from the University of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland (2011).
Inaugurated as the George Engelmann Professor of Botany, Washington University at St Louis (November 2011).
Hon. John C. Pritzlaff Award for Plant Conservation. Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, California, U.S.A. (2010).
Awarded the Insignia de Oro (Gold Medal) of the Jardín Botánico Canario “Viera y Clavijo” of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Spain for distinguished work in nature conservation (2002).
2001 Conservation Award for ‘Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Plant Conservation’ by the Association of Zoological Horticulture.'

Publications

His publications include twelve books and over 300 scientific papers and other articles. His most recent book, ‘Ireland’s Generous Nature: the past and present uses of wild plants in Ireland’ (Missouri Botanical Garden Press, 2014) was shortlisted for the international 2015 Annual Literature Award of the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries (CBHL).

His books include the following:

Wyse Jackson, P. (2014). Ireland’s Generous Nature – the past and present uses of wild plants in Ireland. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St Louis.

Sampaio Pereira, T., Nova da Costa, M.L.M. and Wyse Jackson, P. (2007). Recuperando o verde para as cidades – a experiência dos jardims botânicos brasileiros. Rede Brasileira de Jardins Botânicos; Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro; BGCI. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Pereira, T.S., Nova da Costa, M.L.M., and Wyse Jackson, P. (2004). Plano de Ação para os Jardins Botânicos Brasileiros. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Wyse Jackson, P.S. and Sutherland, L. (2000). The International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation. Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), London, U.K.

Cheney, J., Navarrete Navarro, J. and Wyse Jackson, P.S. (2000). Action Plan for Botanic Gardens in the European Union. Scripta Botanic Belgica, 19 (Published for the BGCI/IABG European Botanic Gardens Consortium).

Doogue, D., Nash, D., Parnell, J., Reynolds, S. and Wyse Jackson P.S. (1998). Flora of Co. Dublin. The Dublin Naturalists’ Field Club, Dublin, Ireland.

Burbidge, B. and Wyse Jackson, P.S. (1998). Conservation Action Plan for Botanic Gardens of the Caribbean Islands. Botanic Gardens Conservation International, London, U.K.

Akeroyd, J.R. and Wyse Jackson, P.S. (1995). A Handbook for botanic gardens on the reintroduction of plants to the wild. Botanic Gardens Conservation International, Richmond, U.K.

Wyse Jackson, P.S. (1994). Irish Trees and Shrubs. Appletree Press, Belfast, U.K.

Akeroyd, J., McGough, N. and Wyse Jackson, P. (1994). A CITES Manual for Botanic Gardens. BGCI, Richmond, U.K.

Heywood, V.H. and Wyse Jackson, P.S. (1991). Tropical Botanic Gardens: their role in conservation and development. Academic Press, London.

Heywood, C., Heywood, V.H. and Wyse Jackson, P.S. (1990). International Directory of Botanical Gardens (Ed. V). Koeltz Scientific Books, Koenigstein.

Wyse Jackson, P. and Sheehy Skeffington, M. (1984). The Flora of Inner Dublin. Royal Dublin Society, Dublin, Ireland.