Born: April 1, 1923
Died: October 2, 2012
Location: Concord, Massachusetts, USA
Mary M. Walker first came to Anguillian 1987 as a visiting botanist, taking photographs of the plants. It was also in 1987 that Dr. Richard Howard of Harvard University identified many of her pictures of Anguilla flora, and gave her a copy of his check list of Anguilla plants that he had published in conjunction with his life work, the six volume Flora of the Lesser Antilles. Mary made a decision then to add as many plants as possible to Dr. Howard’s check list, and by 2007 she had developed a database of over 555 species of plants on Anguilla, and named it The Anguilla Flora Project.
Mary went on to introduce the herbarium at the Anguilla National Trust to house the collection of plants. She developed this project as a gift for the people ofAnguilla. Before a list of plants of any country or region can be recognized officially by the botanical world, the list must be backed by professional herbarium records. Therefore, the identity of any given plant on a list can be checked if needed. In April 2013 the collection will be added to the West Indian collection at theSmithsonianMuseuminWashington,DC.
Many people helped Mary learn the plants ofAnguilla, but especially Oliver Hodge, a local naturalist. The complete database was given to the Department of Agriculture, the Anguilla Library, the Anguilla National Trust, and Bonnie Warner-Fleming, local advisor for the project.
On her many visits toAnguilla, Mary gave generously of her time and knowledge. She organized plant workshops; led nature hikes to identify plants; and donated a collection of reference botanical books, journal articles, and all known booklets and reports onAnguilla’s flora by local authors. She also compiled a photocopy collection of every pressed plant in the herbarium; a slide collection of several thousand West Indian andAnguillaplants; and several notebooks with information, descriptions and illustrations of plants assembled from various literature sources.
She received recognition for her work in 2002 from the Government of Anguilla and the Anguilla National Trust. Mary is the author or co-author of numerous botanical publications, including “A Guide to Common Plants of Anguilla”, “The Vegetation of Anguilla”, and “Native Plant Societies of theUnited StatesandCanada.”
Memorial Service: Saturday, October 20, 1:00 PM, Trinity Episcopal Church,81 Elm St.,Concord,MA
Obituary can be viewed at website: Concord Funeral Home,74 Belknap St.,Concord,Massachusetts
Bonnie Warner-Fleming
