Wild Plants of Connemara and West Mayo

Author Biography

Dr Charles Nelson is a freelance botanist, lecturer and author. A native of Northern Ireland, he graduated from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, in 1971, and proceeded to the Australian National University, Canberra, where he carried out his doctoral research. Charles returned to Ireland and in 1976 joined the staff of the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin, as Horticultural Taxonomist. He resigned in 1995 and now lives in North West Norfolk.He is the author of over 20 books and more than 200 research papers. His botanical interests are diverse and range from the flora of The Burren to heathers and Australian Proteaceae, and he maintains a broad interest in the history of botany and horticulture in Ireland.Among his numerous publications are several books about The Burren – The Burren: a companion to the wildflowers of an Irish limestone wilderness, illustrated with watercolours by Wendy Walsh (1996) and Wild plants of The Burren and the Aran Islands, illustrated with photographs (The Collins Press, Cork, 2007 - 3rd revision 2016). Other books include Sea beans and nickar nuts (BSBI, 2000), The wild and garden plants of Ireland (Thames & Hudson, 2009), The shamrock: history and botany of an Irish myth, and A heritage of beauty: an illustrated encyclopaedia of Irish garden plants (voted “Best reference book 2001 by the Garden Writers Guild). In 2009, a collection of his essays on Irish garden history was published: An Irishman’s cuttings, and in 2010, a new edition of William Robinson’s famous book The wild garden, annotated and illustrated with photographs (both Collins Press, Cork). His monograph Hardy Heathers from the Northern Hemisphere was published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2011).In 2012 he was awarded the Founders Medal of the Society for the History of Natural History and in 2020 was proposed for election as an honorary member. In February 2015 he received the Royal Horticultural Society's Gold Veitch Memorial Medal for his "outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement of the science and practice of horticulture" and in 2017 was a recipient of the Medal of Honour of the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland. He is currently honorary Senior Research Director of the Catesby Centre in the University of South Carolina.