John E. Braggins is a New Zealand
botanist and
bryologist, known for his research into
ferns and
liverworts. Braggins lectured at the
University of Auckland from 1969 until 2000, during which time he supervised and mentored a significant number of New Zealand botanists. During Braggins' career, he has taken part in the identification of 12 species and one suborder, many of which are endemic New Zealand liverworts.
Career
Braggins' 1975 PhD focused on the fern genus Pteris, in which he recognised Pteris carsei (pictured) was distinct from Pteris comans. This was formally described 45 years later in 2020
Braggins was born in
Wellington on 9 August 1944.[2][3] He was adopted by Edward George Braggins and Sarah Braggins, who moved to
Dannevirke, where he spent much of his childhood.[4] For his first year of high school, the family moved back to Wellington, where Braggins attended
Rongotai College.[4]
He developed an interest in
ferns as a child,[3] in part due to his parents buying Braggins a copy of
Herbert Boucher Dobbie's New Zealand Ferns. His parents allowed him to build ferneries at the family's homes in Dannevirke and Wellington.[4]
In 1969, Braggins moved to Auckland, where he became a lecturer in botany at the
University of Auckland and worked on a PhD on Pteris ferns,[3][5] being awarded the doctorate in 1975.[2] Braggins became a senior lecturer in the biology department,[6] and was a supervisor and lecturer for biologists such as
Elizabeth Brown,
Peter de Lange, Matt Renner, Matt von Konrat, Dan Blanchon and Mark F. Large,[3][2] many of whom were inspired to become bryologists by Braggins.[4] Braggins collaborated with Large to produce Spore Atlas of New Zealand Ferns and Fern Allies (1991).[3][2] The pair continued collaborating on fern-related studies, and in 2004 produced the book Tree Ferns, the first major work focusing entirely on the taxonomy and horticulture of
tree ferns.[7][8]
Braggins developed an interest for
hornworts and
liverworts during his university studies, which led to him making major contributions to the knowledge of New Zealand endemic liverworts, including making descriptions for nine liverwort species, and contributing to Engel & Glenny's Flora of the Liverworts and Hornworts of New Zealand.[5] Over time, Braggins became known as one of the leading experts in hepaticology (the study of liverworts) in New Zealand.[4] At the University of Auckland, Braggins worked on the identification of Riccardia furtiva in 1989 and Zoopsis nitida in 1997.[2]
Braggins lectured at the University of Auckland until 2000,[2] when he was made to retire due to a department restructure.[4] This led Braggins to becoming an honorary research associate of
Auckland War Memorial Museum, where he donated many of his type specimens, and working as a freelance botanical consultant.[4] Braggins worked on identifying the Libertia species L. cranwelliae and L. mooreae (named after
Lucy Cranwell and
Lucy Moore respectively) in 2002,[9] and helped in the identification of five species of Frullania liverworts between 2003 and 2011.[2] Further collaborative work by Braggins helped in the identification of the liverworts Lophocolea mediinfrons and Schizophyllopsis papillosa in 2013, and in 2015, the suborder
Myliineae, which Braggins had identified in 2005 with J. J. Engel, was formally described.[10]
In 2020, Braggins collaborated on a paper which established Pteris carsei as a distinct species separate from Pteris comans; something that Braggins had originally recognised in his 1975 PhD.[11]
In 1999, Braggins received the Borg-Warner Robert O. Bass Visiting Scientist award by the
Field Museum of Natural History in
Chicago.[13] Braggins received the Allan Mere Award, the premier award given by the New Zealand Botanical Society, in 2013.[14] In 2024, Braggins became an Associate Emeritus of
Auckland War Memorial Museum, in recognition for his contributions to plant taxonomy, education and dedication to botany.[3]
Two species have been named after Braggins: the monotypic liverwort Bragginsella anomala in 1997,[15][5] and the liverwort Lepidozia bragginsiana in 2014. The taxon authors of Lepidozia bragginsiana chose to recognise Braggins due to his role in organising liverwort collecting expeditions and for mentoring younger bryologists.[16]
Taxa identified by Braggins
Frullania wairua, a species identified by Matt von Konrat and Braggins in 2005
Pócs, Tamás; Sass-Gyarmati, Andrea; Naikatini, Alifereti; Tuiwawa, Marika;
Braggins, John; Pócs, Sarolta; von Konrat, Matt (2011). "New liverwort (Marchantiophyta) records for the Fiji Islands". Telopea. 13 (3): 455–494.
ISSN0312-9764.
WikidataQ126934652.
^
abBlanka Shaw; Barbara Crandall-Stotler; Jiří Váňa; et al. (1 February 2015). "Phylogenetic Relationships and Morphological Evolution in a Major Clade of Leafy Liverworts (Phylum Marchantiophyta, Order Jungermanniales): Suborder Jungermanniineae". Systematic Botany. 40 (1): 27–45.
doi:
10.1600/036364415X686314.
ISSN0363-6445.
WikidataQ95464728.
^Schuster, Rudolf M. (1997). "On Bragginsella, a New Genus of Jungermanniales from New Zealand". The Bryologist. 100 (3): 362–367.
doi:
10.2307/3244506.
ISSN0007-2745.
JSTOR3244506.
^Cooper, Endymion D; Renner, Matt AM (2014). "Lepidozia bragginsiana, a new species from New Zealand (Marchantiopsida)". Phytotaxa. 173 (2): 117–126.
doi:
10.11646/phytotaxa.173.2.2.
ISSN1179-3163.
^John J. Engel;
John E. Braggins (1 August 2005). "Are Mylia and Trabacellula (Hepaticae) Related? Unsuspected Links Revealed by Cell Wall Morphology, with the Transfer of Mylia anomala to a New Genus (Leiomylia J.J. Engel & Braggins) of Jungermanniaceae". Taxon. 54 (3): 665–680.
doi:
10.2307/25065423.
ISSN0040-0262.
JSTOR25065423.
WikidataQ28960091.