H T Clifford

Brief description

Trevor Clifford was an Honorary Research Associate of the Queensland Herbarium and an Honorary Fellow (Geoscience) of the Queensland Museum. Throughout his career, which included a thirty-four year tenure at the University of Queensland, he received many scholarships and awards from top funding bodies including the Nuffield, Carlsberg German Cultural and University of Queensland Foundations. As part of his Master of Science Degree, Clifford mapped 180 square kilometres of the Dandenong Ranges, analysed the geographical distribution of the eucalypts, and prepared a relief model of the area. This study was the foundation for his life-long fascination with plant genetics, statistics and evolution. Clifford next received an Australian National University Scholarship to study at the University of Durham (U.K.) for a Doctor of Philosophy Degree. On completion of these studies he accepted a lectureship in Agricultural Botany at the University College of Ibadan in Nigeria. In 1958 he returned to Australia taking up a Lectureship in Botany at the University of Queensland. He retired in 1992 with the title of Prof Emeritus. His landmark publications include works on grass identification, The families of monocotyledons (1985) with Rolf Dahlgren, and Keys to the families of Queensland flowering plants (Magnoliophyta) (1972) with G. Ludlow.

Full description

Throughout a career which included a thirty-four year tenure at the University of Queensland, Clifford received many scholarships and awards from top funding bodies including the Nuffield, Carlsberg German Cultural and University of Queensland Foundations. As part of his Master of Science Degree , Clifford mapped 180 square kilometres of the Dandenong Ranges, analysed the geographical distribution of the eucalypts, and prepared a relief model of the area. This study was the foundation for his life-long fascination with plant genetics, statistics and evolution. Clifford next received an Australian National University Scholarship to study at the University of Durham (U.K.) for a Doctor of Philosophy Degree. On completion of these studies he accepted a lectureship in Agricultural Botany at the University College of Ibadan in Nigeria. In 1958 he returned to Australia taking up a Lectureship in Botany at the University of Queensland. He retired in 1992 with the title of Prof Emeritus.Throughout his teaching career as a professor of botany at the University of Queensland, he published many articles and books in his field. His botanical and horticultural specialty is 'taxonomy, experimental and numerical.' He is the author of The Etymological Dictionary of Grasses. Fuller details on his career and achievements can be found at

Throughout Trevor Clifford's career, which included a thirty-four year tenure at the University of Queensland, he received many scholarships and awards from top funding bodies including the Nuffield, Carlsberg German Cultural and University of Queensland Foundations. As part of his Master of Science Degree, Clifford mapped 180 square kilometres of the Dandenong Ranges, analysed the geographical distribution of the eucalypts, and prepared a relief model of the area. This study was the foundation for his life-long fascination with plant genetics, statistics and evolution. Clifford next received an Australian National University Scholarship to study at the University of Durham (U.K.) for a Doctor of Philosophy Degree. On completion of these studies he accepted a lectureship in Agricultural Botany at the University College of Ibadan in Nigeria. In 1958 he returned to Australia taking up a Lectureship in Botany at the University of Queensland. He retired in 1992 with the title of Prof Emeritus.