Based at the National Herbarium of New South Wales within the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan, she is immersed in systematic research projects on sedges (family Cyperaceae), she-oaks (Casuarinaceae), rushes (Juncaceae) and the docks and smartweeds (Polygonaceae). Karen has dedicated over five decades to investigating their relationships, biogeography and evolution.
A typical day for Karen involves dealing with email inquiries, followed by examination of specimens in the herbarium vaults, where she may document details for manuscripts, capture images with a digital microscope, or take samples for molecular analysis. She also deals with questions about the names of algae, fungi and plants as the Secretary of the General Committee that oversees the International Code of Nomenclature.
What Karen enjoys most is the profound connection to plants and the global community of colleagues who share her enthusiasm for botanical study. Her goal is to advance knowledge of the plants in her research groups, ensuring accurate information that is freely and widely available.
Karen's career began with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Sydney in 1973, followed by a part-time Master of Science from the University of New South Wales in 1986. Karen joined the Gardens staff as a systematic botanist in 1973, ultimately becoming a senior research scientist. She retired in 2016. Her appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia in 2008 is testament to her valuable contributions to botany.
Karen finds it impossible to choose just one plant as a favourite, but loves the characteristic scents of Poplar Box (Eucalyptus populnea) and White Cypress Pine (Callitris glaucophylla) wafting on the breeze on a warm inland day. Doing fieldwork in the Australian bush is one of the joys of a botanist's life. Karen has also investigated the vegetation of other parts of the world where her research groups grow, including New Caledonia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Réunion and Uruguay.
Her journey into botany was shaped by a childhood on a grazing property in northwest New South Wales, fostering a profound love for the Australian countryside and igniting her lifelong passion for plants, the backbone of life on this planet.
