Geoff Baylis

Baylis was born in Palmerston North to Gerald Baylis, an agricultural scientist, and his wife Daisy (Kathleen Daisy Baylis (nee Aston), sister of New Zealand botanist Bernard Aston). The family moved to Campbells Bay on Auckland's North Shore in 1920, where Geoff and his sister Geraldine attended Takapuna Primary School and were then some of the first students at Campbells Bay School. Geoff attended Takapuna Grammar School before enrolling at the University of Auckland (then Auckland University College) in 1931. == Professional life ==

In 1946, he was appointed Lecturer-in-Charge of Botany at University of Otago, taking over from the Rev. Dr J. E. Holloway. Based on his numerous plant collections, Baylis founded the Otago Regional Herbarium (OTA), which is located at the Botany Department at the University of Otago. His pioneering experiments on endomycorrhizae in broadleaf (Griselinia littoralis) showed that seedlings growing in natural soils develop vescicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae by associating with fungi that assist with phosphorus uptake, whereas seedlings that did not develop such mycorrhizae stagnated. Other researchers at the University of Otago (including Baylis and his research students) and elsewhere completed similar studies on other plants thereby extending his early results. == Honours and awards ==

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1961, and attended his last Fellows' AGM on his 90th birthday, as one of the two longest serving living fellows. The annual Geoff Baylis Lecture was established by the Botanical Society of Otago in 2002 to honour his contributions to the society and field of botany. Geoff Baylis was the speaker at the inaugural lecture in 2002, and as of 2022 there have been a total of 20 different lectures and speakers in the intervening years. == Eponymy ==

The following species of plants and fungi have been named in honour of Geoff Baylis: • The critically endangered tree, Pennantia baylisiana (W.R.B.Oliv) G.T.S.Baylis, or Three Kings kaikōmako. but is also known from Tasmania, Australia. • The critically endangered secotioid fungus Deconica baylisiana (E. Horak) J.A. Cooper (originally described by Egon Horak in 1971 as Nivatogastrium baylisianum E. Horak). == Family and personal life ==

In his younger years, Baylis was an avid mountaineer and took part in several climbing trips to the Southern Alps. In 1965 he and his climbing companions had to be rescued by plane after being trapped by bad weather on the Volta Glacier. Baylis flatted in, and later bought, the historic Dunedin house "Threave" in upper High Street, a Robert Lawson-designed house which he fully restored, as well as extending the building's woodland surrounds. He became a collector of art and antique silverware and porcelain, and was a regular attendee at classical music concerts. He also had an extensive garden which contained both native and exotic species. Geoff remained unmarried throughout his life, but kept close ties with his sister Genevieve Chamberlain and her family. He moved back to Campbells Bay, next door to the original family home (which he had bought and restored for his nephew Geoffrey Chamberlain). He died there on New Year's Eve, 2003, at the age of 90. == Taxon names authored ==

Geoff Balyis named seven species in four different genera of plants. • Elingamita G.T.S.Baylis • Elingamita johnsonii G.T.S.Baylis • Solanum aviculare var. latifolium G.T.S.Baylis • Solanum capsiciforme (Domin) G.T.S.Baylis == Selected works ==

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