Rex Bertram Filson Explained

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Alma Mater:	Monash University

Rex Bertram Filson (born 1930) is an Australian lichenologist who made major contributions to knowledge of lichens in Australia and Antarctica.

Early in his career Filson worked as a carpenter in various places around Australia, and from 1961 to 1963 was employed as a carpenter by the Australian Antarctic Division. This was the start of his career as a lichenologist.

In 1964, he was employed by the Royal Botanic Gardens. Employment with the Victorian Department of Crown Lands and Survey followed (1964–1988), first as a seed-collector and finally as senior botanist.^[1] During this period, he acquired a Master of Science (1979) and a Doctor of Science (1988) from Monash University. In 1970, Filson was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to compare northern hemisphere with Australian lichens.^[2] The National Herbarium of Victoria holds the majority of Filson's collections, over 15,000 specimens, with duplicates distributed around Australian Herbaria including AD, BRI, CANB, HO, NSW and PERTH, with several in overseas herbaria such s MSK, GZU, F and UPS.^[3] In 1975, Filson edited the exsiccata Lichenes Antarctici exsiccati.^[4]

Filson Nunatak in Antarctica is named in his honour,^[5] as is the lichen genus Filsoniana.^[6]

Selected taxa

An advanced search of the Mycobank database shows that he authored some 90 fungi,^[7] including:

• Buellia foecunda Filson^{[8] [9]}
• Heterodea beaugleholei Filson^{[10] [11]} (now Cladia beaugleholei)^[10]
• Xanthoparmelia elixii Filson^{[12] [13]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: Walker. R.. 1997. Filson, Rex Bertram – Biographical entry – Encyclopedia of Australian Science. 17 December 2020. eoas.info. The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre. en-gb.
2. Book: Cohn . Helen . History of the National Herbarium of Victoria . 2009–2012 . Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne . Appendix 2B . English.
3. Web site: Filson Collections . The Australasian Virtual Herbarium . 13 December 2021.
4. Web site: Lichenes Antarctici exsiccati: IndExs ExsiccataID=490585207 . IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae . Botanische Staatssammlung München . 29 July 2024.
5. Web site: Antarctica Detail: FILSON NUNATAK. 17 December 2020. geonames.usgs.gov.
6. Kondratyuk . S. . Jeong . M.-H. . Yu . N.-H. . Kärnefelt . I. . Thell . A. . Elix . J. . Kim . J. . Kondratyuk . A. . Hur . J.-S. . Four new genera of teloschistoid lichens (Teloschistaceae, Ascomycota) based on molecular phylogeny . Acta Botanica Hungarica . 55 . 3–4 . 2013 . 10.1556/abot.55.2013.3-4.8 . 251–274.
7. Web site: Search for taxa with (author contains "Filson"). mycobank.org. 17 December 2020.
8. Web site: Index Fungorum – Names Record Buellia foecunda. 18 December 2020. indexfungorum.org.
9. Book: Rex Bertram Filson

   . Filson, R.B.. The lichens and mosses of Mac. Robertson Land. 1966. Dept. of External Affairs Australia, Antarctic Division. 82. Melbourne. 34. Rex Bertram Filson.

10. Web site: Mycobank: Cladia beaugleholei. 17 December 2020. mycobank.org.
11. 18.
12. Web site: Mycobank: Xanthoparmelia elixii. 17 December 2020. mycobank.org.
13. 203.